On a Rainy Day
by EverythingAtOnce
Summary: On a rainy day many things can happen. Your heart can break, your crush might crash into a tree on their bike, or your worst enemy might just cry in front of you. Who knows. You can't control what goes on in the outside world, but you can control the heart of yours. (Three different one-shots for all couples.)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! What's up?! I won't even start on how long it's been since I've actually updated a single thing, but I will say I started this specific story earlier in the year and never really bothered finishing until now.**

**This part of the story is mainly focused on Theodore & Eleanor's relationship. Originally, I was just going to do a Simon & Jeanette One-shot-thingy, but then I got an idea for an Alvin & Brittany, then one thing lead to another and yeah...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in Alvin and the Chipmunks.**

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"Alright, class," the bald haired man, dressed in a suit, lamely said. Pointing to the whiteboard at the front of the classroom, indicating to a complicated math problem, he explained, "You see, so after you take the square root of twenty-five, as you all should know, it's five, what do we do after this?"

In the back of the classroom, a blonde-haired girl, known as Eleanor Miller, let a small yawn escape her lips. Propping her right elbow on the top of her desk, she rested her cheek in the palm of her hand, lazily staring across the room at her current teacher for her third period of the day. It's not that she was tired or anything, it was simply because the man teaching up front had no sense in what the word "fun", or "entertaining" meant. Sure, yeah, he was a great teacher…the only problem was: he was boring. Not even that, _insanely _boring. The man had no sense in anything other than math.

Slowly beginning to close her eyes, Eleanor blinked a couple times, trying to widen her brown gleaming eyes; she just had to stay awake…but it was just so hard…

"Anybody?" the math teacher, also known as Mr. Kruetz, asked, glancing around the room. "C'mon, I know you guys know this…" He challenged, scanning the room once more with his dull gray eyes. "Eleanor," he hollered, catching the blonde-haired girl falling asleep.

Jolting awake, Eleanor straightened her posture. "Wha—yeah, Mr. Kruetz?" she called, twiddling her thumbs together.

"Can you tell the class what the answer to this problem is?" Mr. Kruetz questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh," Eleanor began slowly, pursing her lips, taking a quick glance around the room, all her classmate's eyes on her. "Well, umm, I—"

_Ding. Ding. Ding._

Saved by the bell.

Letting out a sigh of relief at the sudden bell indicating the class period was over, Eleanor quickly gathered all her things, and slipped past all the students in her way, and rushed out of the room before anything more humiliating could happen.

Making it to the exit, she shook her head disappointed, yet letting out another sigh. She nearly fell asleep in that class…again. Now she's practically fallen asleep in that class more than a dozen times by now. Maybe she should start bringing gum to that class or something, because she couldn't bear to have another scene like that to happen to her _again_.

Biting her bottom lip, she headed down the hallway and stopped at her locker. Putting the combination in, she unlocked it and set her binder and textbook in, grabbing her sack lunch out in exchange.

At least it was lunchtime, that was a good thing, wasn't it? It was an hour long, so she had plenty of time to get herself together.

Slamming her locker shut, she turned on her heel and headed to the lunch room.

"Whoa, wait—you what?!" Alvin exclaimed, coughing on his drink of water, from laughter.

Grimacing at his reaction, Eleanor took a bite from her homemade peanut-butter and jelly sandwich, chewing slowly. She decided she'd tell her sisters and friends that she nearly fell asleep, again, in class that day, just to hear their advice on what she could do to possibly stay awake, but evidently it wasn't a good idea…

"Alvin," Brittany began, slapping him in the back of his head, "you spit some water on me! And Eleanor's told us about this problem centuries ago—haven't you been paying attention? Oh wait, you've been sitting over with your stupid jock friends for the past couple of months, so, _duh_—of course NOT!"

"Have not—what about you, huh?" Alvin shot back, rubbing the back of his head, eyeing his counterpart with slit eyes.

Examining her pink, glazed, perfectly manicured nails, Brittany crossed her legs and simply countered, "_I _have been visiting at least once, every week, so I don't miss out on family talk too much—and have _TOO!"_

Eleanor let out a sigh, with the roll of her eyes, at her older sister and friends' argument. "Oh boy," she muttered, "here we go again."

"Tell me about it," Simon suddenly said, coming up from behind her, sack lunch in hand. Taking a seat next to her, he let out a sigh, adjusting his black framed glasses, shaking his head. "Sometimes I wonder if Alvin and I are even blood related."

"Yeah, well, it'll surprise you to how much you two are actually alike, just like me and Brittany." Eleanor mumbled, staring at her sandwich in her hands.

"Hey, don't worry about those two—they're just being Alvin and Brittany—we're talking about you right now." Theodore suddenly said, catching Eleanor off guard.

Flicking her head to the side, she smiled brightly. "Theodore! Didn't see you there—how long were you there?" she asked all attention on him.

"Well, I've been here the whole time…at least I'm pretty sure I've been here the whole time…" He answered slowly, thinking it through carefully.

"Oh—right! You have, oh my, I'm so sorry, Theodore!" Eleanor apologized sincerely. How'd she forget he was sitting right next to her? He was _right _next to her… How did that happen? Feeling terrible, Eleanor slumped her shoulders. She was a terrible friend. How did she even have friends?

"It's fine, Eleanor. We all forget things sometimes, don't worry about it," Theodore chirped, pulling a bag of cookies out of his sack lunch. "Oh, here," he said, handing the cookies to her. "I made these the other night, but I've been forgetting to bring them over to your place, so..."

Brightening up, Eleanor took the bag. "Aww, you shouldn't have," she grinned, but then frowned. "But I don't deserve these, not after what I just did…"

"No, it's fine—these are yours now. It's a new recipe." Theodore insisted, gleaming brightly.

Still feeling it wasn't right, she started, "But—"

"Jeanette," Simon suddenly half greeted and half exclaimed. Scooting down a little, he pulled the seat next to him out and beckoned for the shy girl to sit.

"Hi, Jeanette!" Eleanor waved enthusiastically.

Slightly waving back, Jeanette smiled, "Hey." She then took her seat next to Simon.

"Where have you been?" Eleanor questioned, once again, forgetting about the sweet boy next to her.

"Yeah," Simon joined in, "I was looking for you, but since I couldn't find you, I came here hoping you were already here…which, you weren't…" He ended, slightly trailing off.

Widening her emerald green eyes, Jeanette gasped. "Oh my gosh—I'm so sorry, Simon!" she immediately apologized, for she always met up with Simon by her locker during lunch hours. "It's just, there was this person, and I told Brittany I'd check up on—"

"Whoa, whoa, wait…" Eleanor cut in, perking up at hearing her oldest sister's name. "'Brittany'?" She quoted quizzically. "Did she ask you to do something? Like, maybe did she ask you to go report to her on a _guy? _Jeanette, is Brittany using you again?" she questioned, locking eyes with purple clad sister.

"W-well, not exactly..." She replied, disconnecting her gaze.

"Hey, Simon, Jeanette," Alvin suddenly called out, breaking the conversation, and getting everyone's attention who was sitting at that lunch table. "Does Brittany really, honestly come and sit with you guys during lunch on a somewhat daily basis?"

Simon began, "Well—"

"I do, don't I?!" Brittany exclaimed, slamming both her hands down on the table, almost in desperation.

"Well, yeah, you do—she does actually come, Alvin." Simon answered as matter-of-factly, while Jeanette merely nodded her head in agreement.

"Snap," Alvin muttered, snapping his fingers in defeat. "Dang it…I swear I was right—I'm always right…" He continued to mumble under his breath in disbelief.

Eleanor merely rolled her eyes, when she turned to Brittany in remembrance, question lingering in her mind. "So, Brittany, what exactly is it as to why you're having Jeanette do your dirty work? Can't you just talk to the boy yourself?"

"Eleanor, I can't—wait, did you just say '_boy'_?" Brittany exclaimed, a smug smile appearing on her face. "Honey, I don't know what you mean when you say 'boy' 'cause you know I can handle myself perfectly when it comes to that subject," she scoffed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I think you mean: _girl._ You know, G-I-R-L, the opposite of a male: female?" she questioned, examining her nails.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Eleanor just stared. "Wait, what? You were having Jeanette spy on a _girl_ for you? Why?"

Glancing up from her nails, Brittany stared back at Eleanor, but in disbelief. "Uh, there's a new girl to this school! Don't you know? I _need _to know about this girl so I know who I'm going up against, and not to mention whether or not I'll have to step things up a bit. There's no way I'll ever allow some _'new girl'_ to come ruin my parade." Brittany ended, going back to examining her nails. "Oh, and Jeanette?" she called, getting her bespectacled sister's attention. "Be sure to report to me about this girl when we get home, okay? We can't do it here because walls have ears, and so do people."

Jeanette nodded her head in response and went to eating her lunch.

Eleanor, on the other hand, couldn't help but gawk at the whole entire situation. Some days, she just couldn't get her two sisters. She loved them dearly, and she's known them her whole life, but, some days, she just didn't get them. She just didn't.

Letting out a sigh, Eleanor grimaced down at her now half eaten sandwich. Her appetite wasn't being too friendly with her that day because she wasn't feeling so hungry anymore…and lunch time was her favorite time—not only because of the food and the fact that she got a break—but it was because she got to spend time with her family. The Sevilles weren't blood related, but they were close enough to anything she could ever ask for when it came to being a brother. Alvin and Simon were, naturally, like older brothers to her. Simon sometimes would help her with her homework when Jeanette wasn't able to, and Alvin would compete against with her in soccer just for the fun of it. Now when it came to Theodore, though, it was a complete different story.

Theodore. He was different for her. He wasn't like any boy she'd met. He wasn't like an older brother to her. And it wasn't because he wasn't older brother material—because he definitely was—it was just he was something more than an older brother. He was her friend, not brother, and not only her friend—but her _best _friend. He was the most, best friend she ever could ask for. And if there was a word to describe their friendship, there wouldn't be one because one wasn't needed.

"Umm, Eleanor?" Simon began, adjusting his black framed glasses.

Eleanor flicked her head to the voice with bright, brown eyes and a wide cheery smile. "Yes, Simon…?"

"Theodore, here, was telling me you were having some troubles staying awake in class, again…?"

"Uh," the blond-haired girl pursed her lips. "Yes. So it seems…" Sighing, she shook her head, but managed a smile. "Have any, so called, tips?" she perked up.

Simon clasped his hands. "As a matter of fact I do," he enlightened. Wiping his hands on his napkin from the prepackaged bundle of a white plastic fork, spoon, knife, and straw, he sat up straight in his chair while scooting closer in to the table. "Well, I'm actually not sure how much this is actually a tip, for it doesn't work for everyone, but it helps me out quite a bit so…" He looked at Eleanor willingly.

Eleanor smiled, "Simon, if it's coming from you, then more likely it will certainly be a tip. And probably even better than what a tip is even supposed to be."

Simon chuckled, and said, "Well, this really isn't much of a 'tip'—but it may help you."

"Alright, Simon," Eleanor grinned wider, "tell me what it is already."

"Okay—I chew gum."

Eleanor nodded her head, taking in his words. So she really should start bringing gum. If it helps Simon, it will more likely help her.

"Well, anything sugary, really," he inserted in, thinking things through.

"So now I'm going to have to go out and buy something sweet…" She mumbled considering her choices.

"Like my cookies I gave you! You can munch on those!" Theodore chirped brightly.

Eleanor eyed the bag of cookies and immediately smiled. "Yeah! That's a great idea, Theodore! But I'm still going to have to go buy something—I'm afraid these cookies won't last forever—I'd probably eat them all in one class!"

"Oh," Theodore cocked his head to the side, but then grinned brightly. "Then I'll just make you cookies every day! And I can even make it a variety—I can make you homemade taffy, chocolate clusters with almonds and cashews—this will be great!"

Eleanor giggled, "Theodore, you really don't have to—"

"But don't you need—"

"Theodore, be reasonable here," Simon joined in. "You can make her sweets if you like, but every day? I think she'll be fine with twice or thrice a week." Simon calculated thoughtfully.

Theodore blinked. "Oh… Is that so?" he asked, turning to the brown-eyed girl.

Eleanor smiled and opened her mouth, yet not sure of what to say. Sighing, she shook her head. "Theodore, it's really fine. You don't have to…"

"But I want to. Plus, it will help me come up with new recipes!"

She couldn't help but giggle and grin wider than she already was. "Alright, Theodore, if you really want to—but the limit is three times a week if you're seriously planning on making me something sweet." He was such a sweetheart! Whoever girl he would end up with in the future definitely was a lucky one, without a doubt. She was sure of it.

Finding her appetite come back to her with sudden haste, she finished her sandwich and went on to her small container of yogurt.

It amazed her as to how much everyone has changed. It was all so new, and strange, and…sad. It made her sad to think of how much her and her sisters have grown. They were already sophomores this year. They were already halfway through the school year. They were actually surviving with passing grades and all the drama that had happened so far. They were growing up so fast… Time was passing them by so quickly! She just couldn't believe it! The next thing she knew, Theodore would already have a girlfriend, or Alvin would actually act his age!

Suddenly Alvin exclaimed, "Oh! The-o-dore! Am I seeing what I am _seeing?!_" The eldest of the Seville brothers got of his seat with such an excitement.

"Since when did Alvin and Brittany stop their fighting?" Eleanor leaned over to Jeanette, who was sipping out of her water-bottle.

"Well, i-if I am correct, I believe they stopped their quarrelling when Brittany caught Theodore staring at Olivia Jenson… Which that was just barely…" Jeanette bit her bottom lip, glancing at her youngest sister hesitantly.

"Correction, Jeanette," Brittany cut in, suddenly in the seat on the other side of Eleanor. "He was drooling. You're glad you didn't see it either. It wasn't the cutest sight. And that's a lot, saying that about Theodore." She crossed her arms across her stomach, eyeing the youngest of the Sevilles.

"Theodore?" Eleanor questioned more to herself then to her sisters. "'Drooling'?"

"That's my queue," Simon sighed, wiping his mouth with his napkin. Standing up, he dusted himself down, and began to walk off.

Brittany scoffed. "Simon, really? Just because a bunch of _girls_ are over here doesn't mean you have to _leave_. You know, it's kind of _cool_ to hang out with girls at this age—we're not kindergarteners anymore," she glared at the bespectacled boy in annoyance as he slowed in his walk at the call of his name. "Plus we're your friends, Simon. It's not like it's going to be awkward or anything. Even if you are a bit socially awkward," she added with a shrug. "You don't need your brothers around to be around us, and around other girls, too."

"Brittany!" Eleanor gave said sister a look.

Brittany rolled her eyes and paid no attention to Eleanor's face expression. "I'm talking to someone, Eleanor—don't you know it's considered rude to not look the person you're talking to in the eye?"

"Wait, what?" Eleanor looked at Brittany confused. Since when did she care about common courtesy?

"Lesson number one in getting a boy's attention: always keep a strong connection with the eyes. It draws their attention to you like a rabbit and a misleading fat, juicy, orange carrot. Once you get the eye connection you've got them trapped." Brittany quickly spoke in a low voice, not taking a single breath, so that her sisters were the only ones to hear her words of wisdom. "And that, my girls, is how you get to stage one: having your first introduction with names. Catch that?"

"A 'fat, juicy, orange carrot'?" Eleanor quoted with her right eyebrow cocked.

Jeanette, on the other hand, took in the words with deep thought. "Is that so…?" she mumbled under her breath with no contentions.

Simon grinned, deaf to the current conversation amongst the sisters, and said, "It's fine Eleanor—that coming from Brittany is actually considered somewhat of a…" He searched for the right word and ended with, "compliment."

"See? Nothin' to worry to it! Oh, and yeah, it was a compliment—see! Simon even knows what I'm talkin' about!" Brittany slapped her hand down on the table causing her two sisters to slightly jump.

Eleanor, once again, eyed Brittany with such a look that was, once again, completely ignored. Huffing out a sigh, the blonde furrowed her eyebrows in realization. Flicking her head in her oldest sister's direction, she eyed the chair, this time, instead of her sister.

Brittany, noticing Eleanor's confused stare, let out an exasperated sigh, "What _now?!_"

"Where is exactly Theodore?" she asked. Theodore was sitting right there—he was sitting right next to her a moment ago… Wasn't he? Why did she keep forgetting where he was?

"Well, if you ladies will excuse me," Simon began heading on his way, "I have some brotherly problems to deal with." With that said, he walked off to where his two brothers were standing.

Eleanor's gaze flickered up to where Simon was and caught sight of the two missing Seville brothers standing right next to the bespectacled boy. So many questions were on her mind. What were they doing over there? What made them go over there in the first place? She knew why Simon was over there…sort of… But she couldn't quite catch on to as to why Alvin _and _Theodore were over there. Wait, but Alvin exclaimed over something with Theodore. "Wait, what's going on, again?" she blurted out totally lost and confused.

"Oh, umm—well, Theodore caught sight of Olivia Jenson—" Jeanette began.

"Drooling," Brittany added in admiring her nails.

"Right, and, uh, well," Jeanette sighed, pulling a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear, "Theodore ran off like a lovesick puppy…" She blinked, stunned by her own words.

"A 'lovesick puppy'?" Eleanor gaped, in disbelief. "I have to see this for myself." With that said, she emerged from her seat and went to go stand by the Seville brothers.

Finding a spot right next to Alvin, who had his right arm around Theodore's shoulders, Eleanor spoke up, "What's the lineup?"

"Well, you see it's—" Alvin paused. "Wait a minute—Eleanor? What are you doing here? Go back to sitting with Brittany and Jeanette. This is a conversation meant for boys, and boys ears only."

Eleanor tilted her head, catching sight of Olivia Jenson and said, "O-kay… Your point?"

Alvin sighed. "My point is: go away." He raised his eyebrows expectantly at the youngest of the Miller sisters. "Go on, shoo—this is guy-talk," he pushed once more. Seeing that she wasn't moving, he snapped his fingers in front of her face, snapping her back into reality. "Eleanor, did ya hear me? Hello?"

Eleanor blinked, and shook her head, "Sorry, uh, what?"

"Go," Alvin ordered with strict, sky blue eyes, and a pointed finger in the direction of their lunch table.

"Oh… Alright. It's not hard to tell when I'm not wanted around," she muttered, turning on her heel back to where her sisters sat.

"So," Jeanette slowly began.

"Is he still drooling?" Brittany scrunched her nose in disgust.

"I got sent in the doghouse," Eleanor slumped down in her seat.

"I don't—I don't get you," Jeanette stated with confused green eyes.

"You got sent home? Wait, what? Who sent you back here?" Brittany interrogated immediately with firm blue eyes.

"Alvin did," Eleanor stated, bummed out.

Brittany flicked her head to where the three boys stood. "Why that little _twerp!_" she slammed her hands down on the tabletop as she stood abruptly, catching a few eyes. "Oh how he will SO get a piece of my mind when I am through with him!" she marched off with clenched fists.

Eleanor pursed her lips while she watched her eldest sister go off. She watched while Brittany tapped Alvin on the shoulder and ended up dragging him a few distances by the ear. It wasn't hard to tell they were fighting. Their hand actions and furious eyes said it all. Eleanor sighed and muttered, "At least she's not making a big scene."

"I-I-I wouldn't be too sure about that…" Jeanette shook her head in fear.

Eleanor rubbed her temples in a massaging manner not even bothering to look. The least she could do was try and not stress herself out too much. But then again, what exactly was she stressing over?

"Hey, yo! Eleanor!" Alvin hollered, rolling his eyes while Brittany supervised with her arms crossed and her foot tapping.

Perking up, the blonde raised her eyebrows looking in the caller's direction.

Sighing, obviously annoyed, Alvin lamely said with no heartfelt meaning, "I'm sorry—ow! Brittany! What'd you do that for?!"

With hands on her hips, Brittany merely stated, "You don't sound like you mean it."

"Well that's because I—"

Brittany lifted up her foot ready to stomp down hard in a threatening manner.

"—don't know why I planted bananas in your garden this morning and I—"

"Wait—what…?!"

"What?"

"You planted bananas in my garden, Alvin?" Brittany raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I did what?!" Alvin acted out, confused.

"Alvin, I don't have a _garden _and I never will because dirt is dirty and we're getting off subject!" Brittany growled, stomping her foot down on Alvin's feet.

"Whoa! Hey!" he jumped back, hands up in defense. "Watch the shoes! They're new!"

Eleanor blinked. Maybe it would've been best if she just kept her rump glued on her seat, eyes on her food, and ears zipped up tight. Then she would never have had such a problem with anything. Sighing, she stood from her seat and headed on her way. "C'mon, Jeanette," she beckoned for her sister to follow.

"But I thought it wasn't okay to go over there," Jeanette hesitated.

"It wasn't, but now it is, but because of the fact that Alvin isn't doing too well with his deep 'apology' that's probably why you haven't caught on to the 'okay' sign," she shrugged.

Slowly nodding her head, Jeanette arose from her seat and trailed slowly behind her youngest sister.

As Eleanor and Jeanette made their way to where Simon and Theodore stood, the first thing Eleanor did was check Theodore's face. He honestly wouldn't be drooling over a girl, now would he? It was one thing for him to drool over cake, and it was a whole different thing for him to drool over some girl. Even if she was his _crush_…

Theodore twiddled his thumbs together, chewing his bottom lip nervously, evergreen eyes locked, as if stuck in a trance. Eleanor sighed, slightly rolling her eyes, but relaxed a little. So Brittany was merely exaggerating…

Suddenly Jeanette gasped, "Theodore! He-here, use this." She hastily pulled out a bright violet handkerchief from her pocket and held it out for the now drooling boy to use.

Eleanor immediately snapped all of her attention on Theodore with a look of terror. With her mouth slightly agape, she blinked, stunned.

As the seconds passed, and Jeanette still had her arm stretched out, handkerchief still in hand, she glanced side to side at Simon and Eleanor questioningly. "Umm…"

Simon sighed and crossed his arms, shaking his head. "_Theodore_—someone is talking to you…"

Theodore merely blinked a couple of times, utterly oblivious to his surroundings.

Simon raised his eyebrows realizing his words were completely disregarded. "Theodore…?"

Eleanor gritted her teeth and stepped in front of her dazed friend. "Theodore, Simon's talking to you… Theodore…?" she smiled enthusiastically. In response, he blinked again, still stuck in a daydream. Huffing, Eleanor crossed her arms, and forced her smile to stay. "_Theodore...?_" she said through clenched teeth about ready to lose it. The blonde-haired girl glanced timidly at her audience of two and rolled her shoulders like she normally did when prepping herself for the final kick-off in soccer; rolling her shoulders usually helped eased her adrenaline.

Sighing deeply, she gave it another shot. "Theodore…? I'm going to throw away your lunch if you don't respond…"

"You know, Theodore, I don't think she's kidding," Simon stated, pushing his black framed glasses up the bridge of his nose.

To Eleanor's dismay, Theodore didn't budge, and that wasn't going to be acceptable—at least not when she was around. She could never let him humiliate himself, not like this. And if it meant she had to be harsh with him, then she'd give him harsh…well, not _too _harsh, but firm.

"Theodore!" She grabbed hold of his shoulders and jerked him firmly.

Theodore's far-off look faded as he finally gave Eleanor the attention she'd been trying to get. "W-w-what?! What's going on? W-where am I? Simon?" he frantically questioned.

Simon chuckled, "Right here, Theodore." Theodore glanced to his left. Simon chuckled once more and cleared his throat, "Your, um, left…"

Theodore looked to his right and let out a relieved sigh, "Oh, there you are—I-I was just, umm, I was just…"

"Staring at _Olivia_ _Jenson_," Eleanor sneered bitterly. Once her words were said, she put her hand over her mouth. She nearly sounded like Brittany a second ago. _Brittany _of all the people in the world!

"Wait, no…I was talking to her," he glanced around. "I was talking to…" He stopped looking when he saw the reality.

Simon placed his hand on Theodore's shoulder and explained, "I believe the correct term is: you were imagining you were talking to her—um, Olivia Jenson. I think you wanted to talk to her so badly, that it caused your brain to believe you actually were doing what you wanted it to do, so it did the closest thing it could do to make you get what you wanted…"

"So…I never did talk to her…" Theodore frowned.

Jeanette, seeing her opportunity to give Theodore her handkerchief, spoke up, "Umm, here, Theodore. You were, uh, drooling."

"Oh," Theodore touched his mouth and took the violet handkerchief, "thanks, Jeanette."

Eleanor crossed her arms and sighed. Turning her head, she spotted Olivia with her group of friends. It wasn't like Eleanor had a problem with Theodore having crushes—it was just she didn't like Olivia as much as she tried to—or at least wanted to—or at least _wished _she could. She really didn't want to plan on _hating _anybody at her school—this was her first year! It was a fresh start! She didn't want to make any enemies, but if there was anyone she could ever hate, which she didn't, it was Olivia Jenson. She knew plenty of girls named Olivia in the past, and they were great, wonderful, strong girls…but _this _Olivia, where could she even start! This Olivia was worse than Brittany—she was an _infinite_ more times _worse! _

Olivia Jenson had an attitude that was heightened on steroids and a mind mixed with pure evil and sass with a dash of drama-queen-freak-out-when-someone-"nasty"-waves-t o-you. If you were let into Olivia Jenson's posse, that meant she thought of you as a worthy apprentice or, worse, slave.

When it came to girls, Olivia's mind would immediately judge and downsize on the girl in sight, and she would treat her like some rat. If you were her friend, you merely got the honors of hanging out with her. But if you were a boy, you were treated with a _little _more respect, and of course, if you were the most attractive boy that ever walked the planet, then you were treated like a dog which was, in most cases, the kindest she'd ever get to anyone except herself and girls in higher grades that she treated like Greek Goddesses.

Eleanor knew this much about Olivia, and so did everyone else in her same grade that ever got close as to twenty yards. Even when Eleanor did try and stand up against Olivia, for she teased Jeanette for no good reason, she ended up with eggs and cake batter blowing up in her face, literally. That was a terrible day for her…and no one—meaning, the Sevilles and everyone else that went to her school excluding her sisters—knew about what happened to her. All people know is the lie of: she tripped, and fell, and that she hit a table, which just so happened to have the eggs tipping off the edge along with the cake batter, and that they fell on her. Period. End of humiliating but "true" story of Eleanor Miller and her "amazing" cooking skills.

Sighing, Eleanor fixed her focus back on Theodore. If she wanted to protect Theodore from Olivia, she would have to be upfront about it. "Theodore, tell me, what is it that you see in Olivia? Really? Aren't there plenty of other pretty, and _nice _girls that you can, you know…like?" Okay, maybe she wasn't exactly being _too _upfront about it, but this was the most she could push. Theodore may have been the "man" between their friendship, but that didn't mean his heart was the armored, rock-solid heart and hers the fragile, frail one.

"Olivia is nice to me—she's beautiful on the inside and out—" Theodore guarded, defending his dignity.

"Whoa, whoa, wait—let me get this straight—you've actually _talked _to Olivia Jenson?" Simon crossed his arms with much skepticism.

"W-well, yeah," Theodore shrugged, "in my foods class…"

Simon raised his eyebrows with much shock. "Foods class?" Turning to Eleanor and Jeanette, he questioned, "Have you seen or, heard of this…?"

Eleanor, about ready to shake her head in rejection, got cut-off by Jeanette, "Well, actually, yes…"

Eleanor snapped her head over in Jeanette's direction with a confused look.

Jeanette gave her little sister the same look in return. "We're all in the same class…aren't we…? You know this, Eleanor—y-you don't…remember…?" she questioned, doubt clouding her clear mind.

With wide, brown, glistening eyes, Eleanor's jaw dropped. "Oh…right…that's right—you're right… Sorry…Jeanette…" She blinked, glancing over at the two Seville's still standing close by.

"Are you okay, Eleanor? You seem sort of…bewildered—out of it, today…?" Simon interrogated with concerned eyes.

"N-no—y-yeah—wait—sorry, I'm just—I've been—I think, I'm just tired…really, really, tired…" She trailed off, mentally hitting herself. Tired? She wasn't even close to that. _Focus. You need to focus. _She grinned at her audience to try and show that she was perfectly normal and fine…and not to mention okay. Who knows what was running through Simon's, or Jeanette's, or, especially, Theodore's brain; but Theodore wasn't one to think weirdly…well, rudely, was the right word. But then again, neither were Simon and Jeanette ones to think judgmentally without solid information, either.

"Umm, Eleanor," Theodore hesitantly began, "y-you're not…mad, at me, now…are you?"

Eleanor opened her mouth to respond, but immediately froze once the words got processed through her mind. She gazed into Theodore's evergreen eyes, taken back. Why would he think she was _mad _at him? "Theodore," she began, the gears turning in her mind on overdrive, "why would—why do you—I'm sorry, I don't understand. Why do you think I'm 'mad'?"

Theodore scratched the back of his neck, and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, earlier at lunch, you didn't notice me—well, forgot about me—and right now, you just forgot we were in the same foods class—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa—Theodore, I don't think Eleanor is actually mad at you—in fact, I don't even know why you're jumping to conclusions like that." Simon stated. "True, I probably don't know Eleanor half as well as you do, and especially as you, do," he gestured to Jeanette, "for you're her sister, so, of course you know her fairly well, and I'm getting off topic—what I'm trying to say is: how are you sure she's upset with you?"

"Well, I don't—"

"Then why are you –"

"Guys," Eleanor cut in. Both Simon and Theodore froze and set their gaze on the blonde-haired girl with mouths still agape. Looking down, feeling the slightest amount of awkward creep up her spine, Eleanor peeled her gaze back up to the two Seville brothers and grinned, "It's fine, really. Theodore has every right to feel the way he does—it's my fault—I'm just out of it today…"

"W-wait, no—Eleanor, it's my fault. I'm sorry—I-I shouldn't have—"

"Theodore!" Eleanor smiled, placing two fingers over his lips. "It's fine," she soothed. He really was the sweetest boy! She was definitely lucky to be friends with him. Friends… That was all they would ever come to be…right? She sighed softly to herself.

Theodore smiled and shrugged his shoulders, but his smile slowly faded into a frown. "So, what was it you were exactly asking about Olivia, again? It seems to have slipped my mind," he smiled timidly.

Eleanor opened her mouth but paused. What should she say? What _could _she even say? She couldn't harass him about liking Olivia… If he has a crush on Olivia, then he has a crush on Olivia. What more was she expected to do? Show him Olivia's true colors? Not likely. Theodore was fragile. If anyone knew that, it was her.

"You know what? I don't even know what I was thinking or saying—just don't worry about it," Eleanor smiled

"Oh, okay…if you say so…" Theodore pursed his lips. Flickering his eyes back over in Eleanor's direction, he immediately asked, "You didn't throw away my lunch, right?"

"Throw away your lunch…?" Jeanette jumped in confused.

"Well, I thought I heard you say…"

"You did…" Eleanor slowly stated. "I did say that I was going to throw away your lunch..." Theodore bit his bottom lip. "But I didn't," she confirmed, to which Theodore smiled with much relief.

"Oh, great! Because I'm starving! I've got to brush up on my appetite if I'm going to ask Olivia out on a date!"

"Wait…" Eleanor processed Theodore's words.

"What?!" Simon and Jeanette exclaimed in unison.

"Yup!" Theodore marched off with much joy displayed on his face. "I'm thinking of asking her to go on a picnic this coming Saturday."

Simon whistled his breath of air out. "Wow…"

"Did you," Jeanette began hesitantly, "did you know he…umm…"

Simon shook his head in response, already connecting with Jeanette's unsaid words. "I will be honest, I didn't know he had it in him, and that he was even going to _ask _for this matter."

"Had what in him?" Alvin suddenly asked, wrapping his arm around Simon's shoulder in a brotherly manner.

Grunting, Simon readjusted his glasses and sighed, irked. "Alvin," his annoyance melted away with a smirk, "it seems to me, if I am correct, our little brother is going to ask a girl out on a date, and you know what that means? That means Theodore is going to be the _first _one out of _us_ that asks a girl out for this sophomore year." Alvin froze. "And I thought you said you'd be the first to get a date before I, or Theodore, get one, for this year." Patting Alvin on the back, Simon said before walking away, "Well, I guess this year you won't be the first to get a date for a change."

"Ha!—guess what, Simon?" Alvin hollered. "I'm already the first to even _date _out of us, so I don't _care_!" he stated plainly, hinting a discomfort tone. Sighing with much less cockiness he usually carried in his voice, he trailed after his bespectacled brother in attempt to "prove" how much he really didn't "care."

Eleanor sighed and rolled her eyes at Alvin's behavior. He could be such a terrible liar, some days. Why bother lying when the answer is so plainly obvious, smacked right in front of everyone? He almost was as bad as Brittany—no, they were actually the same; what was she thinking overweighing one while the two were, obviously, perfectly balanced?

"C'mon, Jean," the blonde beckoned, "let's go join the fray."

Jeanette nodded her head and gave Eleanor a small smile, following closely behind.

Eleanor abruptly stopped in her tracks. "Where's Brittany?" She gave Jeanette a look of wonder. She could've sworn Brittany went to go "deal" with Alvin. How come Alvin came back alone? Shrugging her shoulders, she sighed and walked on. Brittany probably found some cute boy to flirt with…

"What about Brittany?" Jeanette asked, hesitantly trailing behind.

Eleanor shrugged, "She's probably off doing her own thing…"

"Oh," was all Jeanette could say in response.

By the time the two sisters got back to their lunch table, the bell rang. Eleanor let out an exhilarated sigh. At least there was only one more period of the day…

All through fourth period class, all Eleanor could think about was Theodore. She didn't have too much to worry about _him_—it was mainly his upcoming "date" that was bothering her. Olivia Jenson. Why? Why did it have to be her? Of all of his crushes, this girl had to be the worse. And she knew that it was terrible of her to even think this way, but she couldn't help it.

Even when she was at home her mind was compiled with Theodore and his date. She tried to watch a movie, tried to cook something nice, tried to do some extra chores—all of this just to get her mind off of Theodore and Olivia—but to her disappointment, none of these options she usually enjoyed helped. None of them saved her _frying_ mind. If there was one thing she knew, it was that this was crazy. All of it. This sort of thing shouldn't bother her. She should be _happy _for Theodore. And she was…she was…sort of.

Eleanor really knew she was actually, literally going crazy by the time she started having a countdown to when Theodore would have his picnic. She even was counting down the hours. Gosh, it wasn't like this was Christmas coming up!—but that was _all _she could do: count. How annoying…

When Monday finally ended for her, it was hardly the end of all of her troubles. By the time Tuesday came, her mind was just getting warmed up. When Wednesday passed on by—oh boy, she could barely even think! Thursday, she was seriously considering going to the doctor. For Friday, her brain was officially fried; she could barely function. Finally, when it was Saturday, she'd gone brain-dead.

_Saturday._ It was no big problem. She was, in fact, now glad it was Saturday. Why? Because once the day was officially over, she would gain her mind back. She couldn't even remember the day Theodore asked Olivia out. Was it Wednesday? Or maybe it was Tuesday…? Great, now she was getting short-term memory—or at least something of the sort.

"Jeanette," Eleanor lamely called, lounging on the couch staring at the blank television screen, aimlessly. It was currently nine in the morning…which that meant three hours 'til Theodore's picnic.

"Yeah," Jeanette replied back, coming from out of the kitchen, still dressed in her pajamas.

"Do you need any help?" she desperately asked, wanting to have something to keep her busy. She felt so useless if she just sat around acting like a couch-potato or lazy-bum. That just wasn't her.

"Umm, well, not at the mom—"

"Please? Anything?! I'll clean your room—do your laundry—give you a massage…?" Eleanor pressed, sitting straight up with much hope.

Jeanette crossed her arms and leaned against the closest wall to her with much thought. "Uh…well…" She adjusted her glasses, and gazed over into Eleanor's anxious brown eyes. She bit her bottom lip and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't—I'm sorry—I don't know—umm, why don't you—oh!" she lit up. "I actually might have something for you to do—that is, if you even want to, you know, do it…?"

Eleanor popped right out of her seat, blonde hair bouncing. "Yeah! I'll do it!" she practically cheered.

"Well, alright—I-I just need you to go get me some supplies I'm running short on…if that's okay—"

"Yup! Just give me the list, or tell me," Eleanor grinned, reaching for the car keys, to the car she and her sisters shared, resting on the lampstand next to the couch.

Jeanette blinked. "Uh…y-yeah, I actually do have a list written down…" Jeanette, still trying to progress what was going on in her head, ushered herself to grab the list on the kitchen countertop. Once she returned, she scanned quickly over the notebook paper with frayed torn edges.

Eleanor snatched the paper out of her sister's hand and began heading towards the exit saying, "Great! Thanks Jean! I'll be back—"

"Wait!" Jeanette scrambled after her blonde sister. "I forgot to put something on the list!" she panicked, snatching the paper out of Eleanor's hands and running into the kitchen. Seconds later, she returned with a pen in her hand and she was double-checking her writing. "Alright—I think this is it…"

Eleanor had her hand reaching out patiently.

"Okay, yeah, this is it," Jeanette smiled, handing Eleanor the paper, but quickly retracting and scribbling down a few more things she just remembered. "Sorry, I forgot I really needed baking soda," she stated, timidly grinning.

"No, no, it's fine," Eleanor giggled, ready to grab Jeanette's list.

Looking over the paper one last time, Jeanette slowly began to hand it over, but quickly brought the paper back up to her face as she wrote one more thing down.

"Jeanette!" Eleanor whined, not realizing how anxious she had gotten. But the paper was so close to being in her hands, and she would have been on her "jolly" way to possibly forgetting about Theodore for the morning.

"Okay, okay—sorry!" she quickly handed the paper over, putting her hands behind her back, clutching onto her pen feeling slightly guilty.

Eleanor shook her head, "No, it's fine—it's my fault—I'm just getting really antsy…" She brought the paper into view and scanned over the items while heading towards the front door. After reading the last thing scribbled down on the list, she stopped in her tracks. "'Cashews'?" she turned slightly towards her older sister, who was shrugging, cheeks tinting a light pink.

"For when I get hungry," Jeanette smiled slightly, readjusting her glasses. Her hand began to consciously touch her long brown, messy hair; her hair probably would've looked a little bit nicer if she had brushed it out, but she hadn't yet.

Eleanor shook her head but laughed, "I see, I see…" With that said, she waved goodbye and walked out the door.

She wasn't sure what she was doing when she found herself parked in front of the local park. She tapped her fingers against the steering wheel debating whether or not she should leave. It wasn't like this was even her business. Gosh, what was she _doing? _She was starting to act like her oldest sister! This wasn't her; she would never do such a thing she was actually doing now! Why? Why was she doing this to herself?

Her soft brown eyes scanned the park. There was still no sign of Theodore—or his, ugh, _date_, for this matter.

Eleanor sighed and looked at the clock in her car. There was still a minute before noon. Okay, she either had the choice of leaving, and ending her creeper-stakeout, or, staying, and officially becoming the worst friend ever and not to mention a stalker.

After a few momentarily seconds passed on by, she shook her head and started the ignition in her car, setting her car into reverse to back out of her front row parking spot. But before she pressed her foot on the gas, she paused and thought about it. She _really _wanted to see how Theodore's date would go, though… She bit her bottom lip and stared straight ahead, watching as a few kids chased each other, yelling and screaming at each other in a playful way. Now what? Stay or go?

A car soon pulled up next to her, and from her peripheral vision, she could see it as an old-fashioned white, rectangle-nosed car. Which was funny to her. She could've sworn that car looked familiar, even though she wasn't even looking at it all the way. Looking to her side to see who had pulled up next to her, she saw two boys about her age, in the front seat, wearing…wigs… Disregarding them, she faced her view back to the now laughing kids. "I hope they know their 'disguises' look pretty dang pathetic…" She hummed, voice edging in irritation at how dumb some people shamelessly could be; pausing, she slowly turned her head back to the two boys, and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Instinctively, her hand switched her car into reverse and she drove out of her parking space and sped away to the exit like it was a race. _What are they _doing _here? _She thought to herself, having a panic-attack. There was NO way she was even going to _bother _staking out and watching for Theodore like some over obsessed girlfriend if _they _were going to be there. Was this supposed to be some sick joke?! Well, now that she thought about it, this was a good thing; in fact, it was a _very _good thing.

Instead of her being the one watching Theodore off in the distance like some lost ghost, she would simply just let Alvin and Simon do the job. After all, it did make sense that Alvin and Simon _were_ there—they're his brothers!—they want to see how their youngest brother does on his very FIRST date…in reality Alvin undoubtedly must've begged Simon to "come along for the show." With the popcorn they had brought—Alvin probably _did _say those exact words. She couldn't help but feel a little pity towards Simon—he looked miserable in his…long-haired wig (another "brilliant" idea of Alvin's; but Theodore being as naïve as he was, he wouldn't even blink twice to immediately think "What are two girls doing in their car eating popcorn?")… She should take his spot and relieve him of his duties… She shook her head. _No. _She didn't need to spy on Theodore, no! He needs personal space. As his best friend, she should honor that—and she _was_ going to honor that.

Her heart nagged at her brain, begging it to tell her body to turn back around; it wanted to see this. She bit her bottom lip while her heart literally screamed at her, pulsing and pumping her blood throughout her body vigorously while she pressed on the gas and turned to the right out onto the main streets, away from where Theodore would be.

She sighed, rolling her eyes. She'll hear the whole entire story from the eldest Seville brothers in full graphic detail—so why was she dreading leaving the parking lot? She actually _has _a life—why did she need to go off and watch someone else's life? _Because it wasn't just someone it was THEODORE. _She wanted to scream and rip her head off. Why was this so complicated? She's not this problematic about his life…at least she thought she wasn't. What was wrong with her? Something must've been wrong. Either she's really actually a lunatic in some mental hospital having some crazy, creepy fantasy daydream about how she wished life would be—doing the only thing she could to get what she wanted, or this was real life playing a stupid joke on her. Which one to choose? She almost wished it was the latter. Being some mental patient sounded better than having to be normal—no not even close to normal—to being some dramatic freak who's getting a terrible, unhealthy obsession over their best friend.

She was like a predator taking great pride in her kill, not wanting to share it with _any_one, even her dear sisters. But who was she kidding? Her sisters didn't care about Theodore as much as she did…

Eleanor shook her head. She was just going to go to the local store, get what she came to get—maybe throw in a few comfort foods—then she'd be gone, and arrive safely at her home, tucked away under her covers while she watched some sappy, dramatic chic-flick with Brittany. Or, of course help Jeanette with whatever she was working on.

Letting out a sharp breath, she nodded her head. "You're a _brilliant _genius, Eleanor," she told herself, eager to get to her destination.

"What is up with this?!" Her bright, brown eyes scanned the aisle of Snacks for the millionth time. Choppily walking, puffing each breath out, she stopped, scanned her list, then scanned the shelves, and marched back to the start of the aisle. She either was blind, or the store was actually out of what she wanted… Giving another hard glare at her list, she shot a ray of death at the shelves. Stomping to the middle, she huffed, turned robotically to face the shelves, gritted her teeth, and carefully, with wide open eyes, slowly searched the shelves once more.

Almonds..… Peanuts….walnuts….soy nuts.…Brazil nuts...hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, honey roasted peanuts smoked almonds coconut toasted almonds dryroastedseasaltedhoneyroastedchocolatecoveredove nroastedfruitflavoredmixedslicedcrushed… She was as the end of the shelves before it cascaded off into dozens of different branded crackers and cookies that mostly were all the same in appearance, but not quality. She blinked more than a dozen times, staring aimlessly at where the last nut containers and bags ended. "What is this—?" she hissed, through forced teeth. Screaming and yelling weren't necessary—she didn't need to waste her voice over not being able to find a certain kind of nut over a variety of others drenched in a vast flavorful compilation with all sorts of spices and added condiments. Nope. She definitely wasn't going to scream like any normal person would when every _other _time they visited the store they'd _always _see the item that wasn't of interest until the day they actually want and need it it's completely disappeared off the face of the earth.

Nope. She was different. She was simply going to go…scream at the manager of the store. Clenching her fists, she walked to the end of the aisle, grabbed her cart, and pushed with raven eyes. _Someone with a nametag that says manager...someone with a nametag…_bingo. She stormed over to the worker talking in a slick black walkie-talkie. She read their nametag with slit eyes and pressed her cart with all of her fury. By the time she made it to the man, all prepared, voice ready, she started, "Um, excuse me, Jeff, hi…"

The worker stopped talking on his walkie-talkie and smiled, "Yes…?"

"Yeah, uh, do you know where all the cashews are? I was looking for them down in the Snack aisle, where the nuts are all placed, but," she snickered lightly in sarcasm, "I can't seem to find them." She smiled a friendly smile, shrugging her shoulders lightly.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that, follow me," Jeff ran his fingers down his jawline where he had a light scruff beard. "So, we had a big shipment come in full of Winter and Christmas edition foods, and every year we have to switch the store up just to fit all of our products, and normally we have enough room for all of the nuts to fit in their own section, but this year, we had too much, so we had to move some of the products, and I believe cashews was one of them…" He went on, explaining apologetically.

Eleanor smiled and nodded. "Oh, is that so…?"

By the time Jeff had led Eleanor to her target, she nearly snatched the container of cashews holding and rubbing it close to her with an insane look of obsession—but, she didn't. She only did half of that and left out the creepy part.

"Again, sorry about the inconvenience and, ask me if you have any more questions," Jeff smiled before walking off and speaking in his walkie-talkie.

As soon as the manager left, her plastered smile she wore immediately reshaped itself into a frown and she eyed the manager with such a burning look of pure loathing that it would scar anyone that walked in her view.

Sighing, she released her fire and stared at the container of cashews. She was so ready to yell at the guy but then couldn't even bring her voice to hit such levels. Instead she gave him everything she thought she threw out the door… She shook her head. Wow. She wanted to go yell at someone because she couldn't find what she wanted? That wasn't right. It'd make more sense if it was someone like her oldest sister, but other than that—how could she let herself be like that? That wasn't her at all.

"Well," she exhaled, "at least I didn't scream at the manager." Clicking her tongue, she set the container of nuts in her cart and scanned her list. Jeff was actually nice to her. Imagine what he would've been like if she went and "screamed" at him… She probably would've gotten herself kicked out of the store! Checking the cart, counting the items, then counting how many items were on her list, she grinned in satisfaction. Perfect. She had an exact count which meant she was ready to go.

Turning on her heal, she looked up at the broad signs indicating what each aisle contained and she shook her head for what _must've_ been at _least _the zillionth time that day. The Snacks aisle was at the far opposite end to where she stood near the Produce section. Her eyebrow twitched slightly, and she pursed her lightly tinted lips. While she was over down in South Africa, the cashews were over here in Europe. Lovely. And now she wanted to return home to North America. It was time for her to go; she wanted to go. What time was it? It just barely dawned on her that it probably took her a good hundred years to find the last item on the list—ha, not even that—a millennium!

She inhaled the cool freshness form the food around her and exhaled out deeply while heaving her body to turn. Staring out the clear automatic sliding doors not too far off from where she stood, she studied the coloring the sky shaded the world outside of the store. It was a misty gray, and everything was getting drenched. It was raining. That's funny, she didn't remember hearing about any rain on the forecast…but then, did she even listen to the forecast that morning? No, she was too busy pouting about _Theodore! _The ends of her lips tugged slightly down into a frown. She was doing so _well _keeping him off of her mind for the past couple hours! Why?!

As her eyes continued to stare at the glass sliding doors, a couple walked in that attracted her eye—well, it wasn't the _two _that caught her eye, it was actually just the _one. _The one _girl. _And not just any girl, it was Olivia Jenson. Eleanor furrowed her eyebrows while her eyes immediately scanned her surroundings in search of the face with two hands pointing out the time.

Biting her bottom lip, she snapped her head down to passing people's wrists, keeping a firm lookout for someone with a watch. Seeing the opportunity come by looking down at some catalog, she spoke, "Uh, excuse me, Sir? Hi, um, I seem to be absent of some sort of clock—do you think you can tell me the time?"

The elder man she had asked glanced down at his wristwatch and grinned, "It's half past one, Miss."

"Great, thanks so much!" she smiled off.

Her head snapped towards Olivia. So…the date was already over? _Done? _Really? She crossed her arms and eyed Olivia. She then eyed the boy standing next to her. She recognized the kid as one of the football "stars" and also one of the _only _two sophomores that made it onto the varsity team. This boy was fairly good friends with Alvin… Brittany had a crush on this guy for like five seconds before he totally screwed up by tripping and dumping all of his lunch food on her in their freshmen year (which is what triggered the wicked friendship of Alvin and him)… Simon had to tutor him for a whole year in math… Jeanette was partnered with him for a science project… Theodore was bullied by this guy in elementary school… This boy was all up in their—the Sevilles' and her sisters'—lives. How come she couldn't seem to remember his name…? She never had to have any encounter with him of any sort—thank goodness!—but _what _was his name? She remembered it was something goofy and strange…

Terry Glitz! That's right… Well, now that she thought about it, it wasn't that strange, really… Maybe she was thinking of someone else… She could've sworn he was named after a flower…or maybe it was his younger brother she was thinking of? She shook her head; why was she stressing over some boy's name whom she didn't even care much for?

Her gaze caught back in full focus on Olivia. She continued to stare at the couple, almost in pure disgust when their pale skins clutched on to each other, keeping them linked. She watched as Olivia's hazel eyes batted a thousand times into Terry's dirt brown eyes. Eleanor couldn't hold back an eye roll. Why do some girls bat their eyelashes? Seriously, though, _why?_—it's not _cute _or anything—it's not even that great of a flirtatious method!—in fact, it's corny. _Really_, corny…

Eleanor gritted her teeth deciding what she should do. Either she goes off on her merry way, or asks Ms. Jenson about how her date went…? The blonde blinked her eyes. What was Terry doing with Olivia anyway? They weren't on a date…now were they? She snickered. Olivia wouldn't honestly go on a date to the _store _now would she? But, then again, Olivia was many things Eleanor couldn't even describe with decent words. Shrugging her shoulders, she pushed her cart towards the closest register. As she strolled on over to check out her items, she couldn't help but feel an urge to go talk with Olivia…and she didn't know why _either_. For once, out of all the impulses she's had since she woke up, this urge wasn't about wanting to know how "the date" went; it was about Theodore.

Before she knew it, her feet were leading her in a whole new direction and the next thing she knew, her mouth was running hallway across China. "Hey, Olivia! What's up?!" she greeted like an old friend. "Terry," she acknowledged with a fixed grin.

"S'up, Baby Miller," Terry nodded his head, hands in pockets. Eleanor stitched her smile in place. Why did he always call her "Baby Miller"? She had a real actual name… Just because she's the youngest out of her sisters doesn't necessarily mean she can be referred in the term as "baby." But then again, any other girl would just _die _to have the "amazing" Terry Glitz actually acknowledge them—and with a _nickname! _In all honesty, she didn't even know the guy that well… The only time she actually spoke to him was when she was being highlighted over some soccer game…

Olivia struggled to pull up a real genuine smile. "Oh, uh, hello…Eleanor… What are you doing, um, here?" she asked with no interest, touching the tips of her curled amber hair.

Eleanor wanted to punch this girl. At least Olivia could _try _to _pretend _she was interested in talking to her. She held her muscles in place. "I'd like to ask you the same…?" She leaned against her cart.

"Terry, tell her," Olivia spoke, continuing to find more interest in her hair than the conversation.

"What?—Right, right, um we are here to buy a movie to watch and some, uh, snacks," he paused, shrugging, "some popcorn—and then we'll just, uh, I guess crash at my place."

"Oh, fun..." She glanced down at her items in the cart. "Yeah, I'm just here to buy some supplies for my sister...Jeanette…"

Terry nodded his head. "Cool."

Eleanor smiled and nodded her head, "Yeah… So, Olivia, I heard you had a date with, um, my friend…Theodore Seville…?"

As if "Pause" was pressed on a movie, Olivia froze. "Wait…the chubby short blonde boy?" she nearly sneered. Eleanor nodded. A small wicked grin curled lightly across her red lips. "Yes, I did have a 'date' with Theodore today…didn't I?"

"Wait, are we talking about Seville? Like, Alvin Seville?" Terry smirked in realization. "Theodore was the low-time guy you told me already asked you out on a date for today? He's the guy you told me you ditched to come along with the _real _party?" He cocked an eyebrow, folding his arms.

Eleanor looked at the boy in horror but quickly composed her features when he looked back at her with such a smugness she would never be able to even stand to wear as a mask. "What do you mean, 'ditch'?" She could hide her outside expression, but not her inside.

Olivia, catching on, smiled coolly, "Oh, you know 'ditch'—not actually show up…?" She smiled innocently, batting her frosted black eyelashes. Now Eleanor finally understood what her oldest sister meant when she stated "She has spidery legs guarding the gates to a burning acidic black hole."

"Whoa, whoa, wait…do you mean to say you actually never showed up…?"

Simply smiling, Olivia laughed with a passing air that was smoother than it should've been. "What do you think?"

"So, he might still be waiting there?" Eleanor could feel her heart ache.

"Let's face it, Eleanor, girls like me, don't even have the time of day to bother with boys like, uh, Theodore. You see, we're just too different. Boys like Theodore are—err, difficult to, you know, look at. True beauty can't be seen."

Eleanor blinked, shaking her head in small, slow movements. "I can't believe it…" She mumbled…

"Oh, you better believe it. Now, as much as I'd love to explain to you the difference between Theodore and me, I'm not because that's not what I came here to do. So if you'll excuse us…" Olivia flashed a smile pulled Terry along with her. "See you Monday, Eleanor. Well, more like, _you'll _see me Monday…" She dismissed, chatting and giggling off with her date.

As the couple passed, the fresh smell of rain breezed past her. "I can't believe it…" She mumbled once more. She couldn't believe. It was true. She couldn't believe she actually _believed_ Olivia would show up. She couldn't believe she actually thought this.

Taking in a deep breath to help her take in this horrible new information, she pushed her cart to the cash register, face blank. When she finally paid the cashier after the lady called her out for at least seven times, she gave a dead "Thank you" and headed on her way.

She stopped when she found herself standing at the doors, staring aimlessly at the outside world. The soft patter of the rain slid against the glass sliding doors. The words Olivia said kept repeating itself in her brain. The expression plastered on Olivia's and even Terry's face, haunted her. They were smiling and laughing at the wrong things; she didn't understand how they functioned that way…

That's when it finally hit her. _Theodore. _He's the sweetest boy ever, and he'll wait forever to get what he wants (especially when it came to food). He really liked Olivia…well, he still likes her…how long would he wait for her to arrive? What if he's still waiting? She shook her head._ You're silly. _She told herself with a halfhearted grin. _He's not that naïve to wait out in this rain just for Olivia... _Her lips curved into a frown._ Yes, he is… _She shook her head and took off in a light jog. The automatic doors slid open at her presence and her plastic bags swung in her arms while she ran across the street and to her car.

As soon as she threw her newly bought things in the back seat of her car, and slid her body into the front seat, she jammed the key in the ignition, bringing the car to life. "Please don't be there…please don't be there…" She chanted, biting her bottom lip. The last thing she wanted to see was Theodore soaking wet, waiting for something that would never become a reality—at least not now, not today, and as far as she knew, ever.

The chill of her breath fogged up her passenger window and she unbuckled herself, breaking out of the car as fast as she could when she saw him standing beneath a fair tree, hands clutching onto a summer picnic basket. His face expression was of hope; well, it once was, but it was slowly fading as the rain ran down his face.

Eleanor called out to him like he was a lost fawn just barely found. Theodore, hearing her call, snapped his head in her direction and just like the flip of a switch, his face brightened.

"Hi, Eleanor!" he chirped, hands rewrapping onto his baskets handles.

By the time Eleanor had ran her way over to him, in the lightly drizzling rain, she smiled, but her heart sank down. His smile wouldn't last long…

He gave her a friendly, welcoming hug and went ahead and asked his first thoughts of seeing her: "What are you doing here?"

The two friends pulled away from their embrace, and Eleanor's face loosened slightly from her cheerful expression. She shuffled her feet, trying to decide how to break it to him. Would it be easier to just spit it out, or take it slowly as she told him in the gentlest way she knew he would be able to handle? Either way, he'd be heartbroken, and she'd feel miserable for him.

"What?" Theodore cocked his head slightly, blinking innocently with his large comforting green eyes. "What is it?"

"Theodore…" Eleanor began, not knowing how to continue from there.

Theodore gave her a contented look slowly fading into the opposite. Almost, hesitantly, he slowly spoke, leaving a huge gap before the words fully came in full volume, "Is it…is it, about Olivia…?" He asked, as if he was scared of the question.

Eleanor sighed. He knew, didn't he?

"It is, isn't it…?" he flashed her a halfhearted smile. She bowed her head, wishing she knew how to look him in the eyes and heal all that was hurt. "That's what I thought," he knowingly exhaled. "By the time I arrived, and she never arrived within thirty minutes time, I guess you could say I started seeing clearly. There were two options. Either, one: she was terribly late… Or, two: she was never going to show up…" He shrugged, dropping his gaze down to his hands. "I hoped it was the first option…but, now I see...it's not so much anymore."

She felt his misery. And it hurt her more than it should've; inside wounds were the worst…especially when they came from the heart. Finding her voice, she softly spoke, "You knew you didn't have to stay…" She finally brought her gaze up, giving him the best smile she could perform for him.

"I know… I guess I had too much hope…" He slightly laughed and joked, "And I couldn't return home to my brothers empty-handed. I guess, I'm more like my brothers than people say I am, huh?"

Eleanor shook her head and exhaled out deeply. "What am I going to do with you?" Theodore smiled as best as he could his most genuine smile. "C'mon, buddy—we wouldn't want the cold to catch you—especially at a time like this. You're still in the game. The only one who got eliminated is Olivia. She's losing a great prize, you know that?"

The youngest Seville nodded his head, keeping his head held as tall as he could. Eleanor beckoned for him to follow her to her car.

The car ride back to their familiar neighborhood was in silence, but a comfortable one. Eleanor always, here and then, would steel a glance at his face. Usually he let his expressions show, but he wasn't making it so easy for her to read this time. She sighed. He wasn't going to stay the same forever. He was already changing so much this year…

The rhythm of the rain patting on her windshield like a steady beating drum hypnotized her thoughts, keeping her heartbeat intact to the same tempo.

Every now and then, when Eleanor would steal a glance at her best friend, he'd catch her staring at him and she'd barely manage to cover up by smiling with true honesty. She wanted to do something for him…to somehow make it up to him, even though it wasn't her mess to clean up.

As she stared at the road ahead, it finally hit her. A smile crept its way from her heart, to her face. She knew what she was going to do…how she would mend the situation for him…

It was almost time.

Eleanor pursed her thin, pale, rosy lips as she glanced at the clock on the oven. Wiping her hands on her white apron, she slipped the extra material off and headed towards the front living room, the sweet smell of a warm bakery filling her nose.

"Hey, um—uh, Eleanor?" Jeanette called timidly. "Is this the game you were asking for?" she questioned, gradually coming down the stairs holding a long rectangle box. Small specks of dust swept and stuck to the brunette's glasses, hazing her view.

Eleanor spun around and grinned widely when she saw the game her sister held. "Yeah! You guys found it! Yay! You can just put it over by the other games…" She directed, pointing to the corner where a mini tower of games held each other up. "Thanks so much, Jean!" she sighed with much relief. "You are a life saver! Thank you for helping me out with this!"

"Oh, well, it's nothing really," the bespectacled girl brightened with a shrug. "After all, why wouldn't I do this? Anything to help a friend out."

Suddenly, the door swung open with much force, the harsh, wet, wind soaring throughout the house of the Miller's, refreshing the room temperature. As soon as the door burst, Brittany stormed in, her cashmere and milky pink chevron rain coat floating on the cool breeze dancing with the swirling curled orange leaves inviting themselves in. "Catch, Jean," the auburn haired girl hollered, tossing the thick blanket in her hands to the said sister. Swiftly clutching onto the edge of the swinging door, she huffed while she pushed her energy against the resistant howling wind, fighting against her from closing the door.

"I've got your back," Eleanor assured, ushering over to aid her puffing sister.

Brittany's glazing ice eyes melted Eleanor's chocolate brown with such a burning sensation. "Well it's about time," she exasperated, struggling against her rival for the way of the door in what looked much like an arm-wrestling match. "My arms are about ready to break off!"

"Well, you're arms seem perfectly fine to me," Eleanor grunted as she assisted her sister's side.

Brittany scoffed, "Well, what do you plan on doing if they do break off, huh?"

"Stitch them back on," came her simple reply.

"_Ew_! No! There's no way! No! Uh-uh! You are _not_ sticking a needle in my arm like some old granny-crazy-stitching-blanket-lady!" Brittany shrieked, scrunching her nose in pure agony and disgust.

Sighing, Eleanor rolled her eyes. "What do you want me to do? Glue them on instead? I'll more than _gladly _do that…" She grumbled fighting against her will to say anything that would turn her sister in a complete new direction.

"Oh, and this is where I save the two sisters from clawing each other's eyeballs out!" a voice full of pride and confidence chanted, coming from atop of the stairs.

Brittany growled, "I think it's _you _who needs the saving, Mister!"

Eleanor grinned, turning her head, "What took you boys so long?"

"Well," another voice echoed from atop the stairs, and down the hallway with a clatter, "we were waiting for Jeanette to come notify us if we completed our task, but she never came, so…" Simon appeared in the place Alvin once stood.

Jeanette gasped from across the room. "Oh my, gosh—I'm so sorry boys!" Her emerald green eyes bulged with sincerity. "I totally forgot!"

Simon shook his head and smiled, "It's fine Jea—"

"Gah! _YES! _Finally!" Brittany cheered, once the final sound of the slam of the door bounced throughout the house like lost echoes in the dark.

"You know you couldn't have done that without me," Alvin boasted, leaning against the door on his shoulder, folding his arms.

Brittany shot a glare at the Seville brother next to her to her dismay. "Why you—"

Eleanor exhaled out getting irritated more and more by the second, "Guys, you-know-who will be here any second now; could you please save the fight for tomorrow?" Usually she was able to keep a fairly controlled attitude, but for some odd reason she just couldn't keep in command over her feelings.

Suddenly the doorbell sounded off, about stopping her heart from pulsing.

The youngest of the Miller sisters composed herself, setting her hand on the doorknob.

"We just—are you crazy?!—we just conquered the darn beast out there! Now you're making us fight it again?!" Brittany screeched, placing her hands on her hips, her hair pulled back in a frizzing, wavy ponytail. "That thing gave my poor hair a heart attack!"

Ignoring her sister's complaint, she breathed in and opened the door with a bright smile. Theodore stood out there in a thick sweater, hands in pockets, grinning back at her.

"Can I come in?" he asked, a wave of rain rushing towards him.

"Of course!" Eleanor motioned him in. "You're always welcome here, you know that."

"Simon! Alvin!" Theodore exclaimed. "You guys are here?!" he brightened.

"Yup," Alvin huffed, smugly smiling in reply to his little brother's smile, as he helped Brittany, who growled in frustration but managed to pull a smile catching glances with the sweet boy.

"Hey, Theo," Simon grinned, coming down the stairs.

"Yup! They're here!" Eleanor chirped, getting excited. _He's here!_ She thought, her heart exploding with fireworks.

Jeanette slowly stepped forward and smiled sweetly, "Hi, Theodore."

"Hi!" Theodore happily responded. Turning to the one reason he was there, he asked, "So, you said you had something you wanted to show me…?" Like a puppy, his head cocked innocently to the side.

Eleanor merely grinned and led him to the living room. Immediately, the room engulfed Theodore in a warm hug. The sight that beheld his eyes was more than he ever expected or imagined. A big blanket covered the floor in a pool of red and white checkered squares while foods of all sorts that appeared as something seen in magazines and TV shows were neatly displayed. The dim yellow lights that lit up the room in a warm marmalade made him feel at home.

"Did you…" He slowly turned to Eleanor. "Did you guys do this? For…me…?" His face softened in a warm, melting smile as he gazed around at all the people in the room.

Simon spoke up saying, "This was all actually Eleanor's idea… She's the one you should really be giving gratitude for."

Theodore looked to Eleanor. "You, did this…?"

"Of course I did, silly… Why wouldn't I?"

The next thing Eleanor knew, she was being squeezed in a warm bear hug. When Theodore pulled back, he was glowing.

"You know," he softly began, "after this afternoon, I thought that the rest of my life was completely hopeless…" Taking a look around, he continued quietly, "Now, I see how wrong I was…" He gazed into her eyes. "I have everything I could ever need." Her heart melted into his hands. "You know though, there's only one thing that I'm really disappointed in today…" Her face dropped a little, and her pulse stopped beating in her ears. "A perfectly good lunch had to go to waste," he grinned.

She giggled, opening her mouth to speak but not getting the chance, for his stomach spoke first.

Theodore laughed, his cheeks lightly getting over coated in a soft pink. "C-can we eat…?"

Eleanor laughed once more and announced, "Alright everybody! Let's feast! I didn't make all of this food just to stand and look at!"

Voices filled the air in laughter and enjoyment and everyone dove right in.

Yup. She did it. Well, really it was all him. He was the one who fixed his day. She was only there to help him stitch the torn rips that pulled at his heart. Even though he was the "man" of their friendship, he still needed help getting back on his feet. And that's what she loved about him. She didn't love his weakness; she loved how strong his humility was. He accepted his life in the most humblest way. He didn't need to be fearless and tough to be considered a man—the world didn't have to bow down to his every step. He was who he was, and he carried that without any vanity.

He was still weak, sure—he may or may not have needed her help, sure—but either way, no matter what happened, she would always be there for him. And whether he made the biggest fool of himself, or didn't make the best choices in his future, he would always, forever and to the end, be her best friend.

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**I hope you enjoyed this!**

**So, this is a three-pieced-one-shot. The next "Chapter" is just the next one-shot, and it will be focused on Simon & Jeanette.**

***I know this is insanely long, (and this turned out longer than I expected), but I for some reason I like to aim for a 5000+ word range when it comes to writing.***

**Please review and tell me what you think! I'd really like to know you're guy's thoughts on this piece... Thanks so much for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't know about you guys, but Thanksgiving should seriously be National Get Fat Day, and Black Friday, National Rob a Bank Day because you're gonna need that cash to actually buy all the things you want...(I died at the Nike outlet last night!)... ;D**

**Anyway, sorry, I'm dumb I know ignore my comment from before - here it is! :) This is Simon & Jeanette! I'm not sure how much I really like my work on this - I wrote it I think in July - so, I don't know how much I've changed from then, but I feel like I've grown a little...so, this may seem a little weird or awkward from what I now write... But I don't know, you tell me.**

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Letting out a sigh, Jeanette mindlessly turned the page to the book she was reading, too caught up in the story it displayed in her eyes. Every day, after school, she would always head to the library. The library was always quiet and peaceful—that was the only place she could actually escape the real world outside, and it was also the only place she could truly concentrate on her homework and _do_ something she actually wanted to do without any screaming and shouting going on in the background, or uninvited interruptions could catch her. This was her home base to read at.

Each book she read always intrigued her and got her imagination going. All the fantasies with brave knights in shining armor fighting against fire-breathing dragons just to save his true love all seemed so…wonderful… All the dream worlds the books would take her to, they always took her on amazing adventures too! True, she'd been on plenty of adventures with her two sisters, which they always seemed to get in some sort of mess—but reading was different.

By reading, she could go anywhere in the world—go on all sorts of adventures, and _still_ be safe and sound. By reading, she would always have that phenomenal sensation of excitement spark in her, and shoot her up in the sky letting her roam free. It was bliss for her. If only her oldest sister, Brittany, could understand… She did try once…but in the end, she only ended up losing a fight that was already lost in the first place. With Brittany, there was no chance of winning a fight unless your name was Alvin…but was she anything like Alvin? No, _definitely _no. And it's not like she disliked Alvin or anything, she just didn't agree with the way he handled things...

Letting out a sigh, Jeanette turned the last page to the book and read the last two words written nice and small on the page.

_The End._

Shutting the book, she adjusted her glasses on her nose, and dazed off for a bit. Her eyes stared off in a world that didn't exist to the natural eye. Exhaling out a deep breath, letting her trance blow out of her, she then glanced around the quiet room viewing while some parents helped their kids to read a short children's book, and other people on their laptops with a stack of large textbooks at their side. It must have been the end of the term exams for all of the college students or something, Jeanette could only guess, for she's seen numerous of boys and girls doing the same exact thing, lazily staring at a computer screen, with a stack of textbooks by their side, all week long whenever she was at the library.

To be honest, all of the people studying almost seemed like zombies to her, for most of the people she's seen looked like they stayed up all night, and some, she's pretty sure, have sat frozen in place like a statue, not even once blinking or taking a break. Everyone there with laptops seemed to have deep, heavy bags weighing under their eyes. Seeing that that month was the very last month of her junior year in high school, this was the best assumption she could muster and come up with. She was already halfway through the month, and school was coming to an end.

Shrugging, she was about to grab the last book filled with pages of words that told an old folklore, but she was stopped by the sudden toll of the great clock that was merely a few feet away. Jumping from the sudden toll, Jeanette pushed the frames of her glasses up her nose and glanced up at the old-fashioned grandfather clock that tolled only seconds ago.

Seeing that it read six o'clock, Jeanette let out a relaxed sigh, before quickly fixing her gaze back up at the great clock once again, this time in an urgent manner.

Letting a small gasp escape her lips, Jeanette frantically looked down at her watch hugging her thin wrist, and her eyes widened, almost allowing her eyeballs to pop out of its sockets.

"Oh shoot!" She cried, immediately working her arms and hands.

Fumbling around to get her books, and her folded up umbrella, for it was raining earlier in the day, she frantically stood up off of the crimson red couch and fast-walked to the book shelves nearby. Finding the right section to put her two books back in, she quickly sorted them in the alphabetized order, and grabbed another book to read at home. Studying the summary written on the back of the book, deciding whether or not she should read it, she shrugged and rushed to the checkout desk.

On the way to the checkout desk, Jeanette took a blind turn and accidently bumped into some boy, causing him to drop all of his books.

Gasping at what her action just caused, she looked at the boy, and then down at all the fallen books. "Oh my gosh—I-I'm so sorry," she apologized, truly sorry.

The boy only bent down, and muttered lowly, "It's fine...don't worry about it."

Quickly bending down along with the boy, realizing she should probably help too, she swiftly helped him gather all of his books. When she finally grabbed the last book, she set it atop the stack in his arms, and stood up. Staring cautiously at the boy, watching while he balanced all nine textbooks in his arms while gradually standing like he was an elevator being lifted to the top floor in a sky-high building, Jeanette soon came into realization, recognizing the boy from her same school. It was Timothy Redwood. She knew him only as a quiet, extremely smart kid from a fairly wealthy family—and for these few reasons were why people picked on him. Adjusting her glasses on her nose, she quickly examined all the books in his arms.

Raising her eyebrows at the towering books, seeing that they were mainly science, technology, math, and other school related categories, she stood there dumbstruck.

_No wonder he's so smart_, she thought thoughtfully in awe. Suddenly the great grandfather clock from earlier tolled, once again, reminding her that she was late for something. Shaking her head, she glanced down at her watch, mouth slightly gaping open, seeing that it was almost ten minutes after six. Why did she always mess up? Was there something she needed to change about herself? She shook her head trying to break the thoughts loose from her captivating mind.

Looking back up at the brown-haired boy known as Timothy, she then said trying to gather a smile on her face, "A-again, I'm so very sorry for bumping into you—I'm in a hurry right now—umm, I, u-uh," she stuttered walking past him, thinking as fast as she possibly could, not sure of what to say next. "I, uh—I hope you have a great summer!" She then called before fast-walking as fast as she possibly could. Seeing that she was in the local public library, she felt it would be disrespectful and disturbing to bolt off into a run… She couldn't help but wonder whether she should've said something different to him…maybe her words weren't the right choice…

Finally making it to her destination with a long crumb trail of thoughts following her in a chain, Jeanette set her chosen book on top of the counter, and waited while the old, short, gray-haired lady checked out her book. Pursing her lips, staring at the lady watching intently; everything almost seemed as if it slowed down, and the time sped up. Blinking mindlessly, and tapping her foot in anticipation, Jeanette opened her mouth only to clamp it shut. She needed to keep her patience. Asking the old lady to speed up was probably rude or offensive anyway…

"Alright, do you have your library card sweetie?" the old lady politely asked.

"Huh—oh, yes! Here it is," Jeanette said, handing the lady a white worn out card.

Taking the card, the lady scanned the card, and then smiled while handing it back, along with the now checked out book. "There you go—this is my favorite book by the way, hope you like it as much as I do," she grinned with a wink.

Returning the smile, Jeanette grabbed her items. "Yeah, I hope it's good…well, bye—oh and thank you!" she grinned.

Frantically making her way to the thick double-glassed doors, she then froze in her spot, mouth gaping at the scene displayed in front of her. "You're kidding me," she groaned, looking down at her violet umbrella. The weather outside was pouring rain, unlike how it was earlier, barely drizzling. It wasn't like she had anything against the rain, it was just the fact that it could easily get worse, and possibly become more severe.

Biting her bottom lip, she got her umbrella ready to open while pushing open the doors, grateful she even bothered to bring an umbrella with her that day. Plus, it never hurt to come over prepared, now did it?

Getting her violet umbrella open, the fresh smell of rain filled Jeanette's nose, and the big drops of salt water immediately began pounding on the top of her umbrella like a strumming drum. Shivering at the cold, chilled air that wrapped around her, she tugged at the bottom of her navy blue jacket, and tucked the book safely away from the rain in her coat.

Exhaling out, she began pacing, gradually quickening her speed needing to get home, for she had promised to be home by six o'clock—she and her sisters had planned to spend time with each other at an event going on…

Suddenly, a low thunder, grumbled deeply in the sky. Tilting the umbrella, Jeanette peered up, only for a quick flash of light to light up the sky. Pursing her lips, she then walked even faster if possible, for she was already going at a fairly fast pace. Pulling tightly to her coat, a small gust of wind blew, pulling at the loose strands of her messy bun. While the wind continued to play and dance with her loose chocolate brown hair, a hard gust thrust itself into her small frame, hitting her like she was the lucky shot for a homerun, but then stopped dead in its tracks. Guessing that that was the last of the wind, Jeanette relaxed her grip a little on the umbrella, but right after, a strong force of air pushed, taking her umbrella with it. As soon as her violet shield slipped out of her hands, the rain dropped in enormous droplets, pounding hard and heavy on all that got in its way to meeting the earth's ground.

Gasping at what just happened, Jeanette immediately ran after her umbrella, desperately reaching for it. "No, please come back!" Jeanette called out to it, in hope by some miraculous miracle the umbrella would grant her wish. The wind forced a blow, carrying the umbrella up into the sky. "No, no, no, no! Don't go!" She cried, tripping over her own two feet.

Colliding with the ground, Jeanette's glasses took flight, only to land a few feet away, while her library book also came flying out with its many flapping wings escaping the dry protection that her coat provided.

Biting her bottom lip, trying to hold in the tears that threatened to fall from her emerald green eyes, the pain from the fall immediately seared throughout her entire body, causing her to ache in an echoing agony. Slowly stretching out her arm, she then clutched onto her glasses, and slowly brought herself up so she was in a sitting position. Holding her breath, trying to ease the pain, she squeezed her eyes shut, while a warm streak rolled down her cheek. Letting out her breath, she made an attempt at drying the lenses to her glasses and put them on when she realized that the swirled smudge of fogged rain water was the driest she'd get them.

Gazing through clouded lenses, she then spotted her library book, drowning in the rain.

"Oh my gosh! My library book!"

Quickly grabbing the book, Jeanette lifted it up while a non-stop waterfall poured from the cover and pages. Letting a small whine escape her lips, a loud clap of thunder roared throughout the sky, ringing repeatedly in Jeanette's ears, causing her to jump to her feet. Stumbling from the pain of the fall, Jeanette staggered her way trying to find the closest shelter. Tucking her library book away in her coat, trying her best to prevent any more rain to reaching it, a small smile graced her lips when an old pavilion came in sight.

Feeling the pain wear away, Jeanette soon broke off into a jog, feeling the heavy rain weigh down on her like it was going to crush her. Breathing heavily, Jeanette soon stumbled under the protection of the roof to the pavilion. Pulling her now drenched library book out into view, a frown curved on her lips while she turned and looked up at the sky. Setting the book down on the ice cold table, Jeanette then shivered violently, now just realizing how cold it was. To make it worse, she had to be drenched from head to toe. It looked almost as if she just took a shower, or got dumped into the ocean.

Folding her arms, she shook nearly frozen. This by far, had to be one of her worst days…of course it would rain this day, at that moment. Shivering all throughout her lean body, she examined the empty roads, with no cars whirring by. A small delicate frown curved her lips once again, while she looked up at the dark gray sky. Sniffling, she sneezed and hesitated to take a seat on the dead, glimmering pavilion bench.

Cringing at the sudden harsh chill it sent throughout her body, she relaxed a bit, and let out a sigh. "Why me…why does it always have to be me?" she questioned out loud, gazing out at the ghostly road.

She knew she only had at least one more mile to walk, but she couldn't go out in the weather, especially not after it ruined her library book—how would she ever explain or pay for that? Plus it would be dangerous to walk out in such weather while it thundered and flashed electric shocks…she couldn't risk it…even if it meant being late. Everyone would just have to wait…

Sitting and shivering, she sat aimlessly staring, lost in thought and worries. If only she had a car with her…that definitely would've been faster, and not to mention, dryer…none of this would've happened if she only had a _car_. Of course it's the one and only thing she actually doesn't have with her…and then her umbrella…

Letting out a deep sigh, Jeanette closed her eyes, rubbing the sides of her arms, trying her best to bring life back into her arms. It was absolutely _freezing…_ She knew she should've called…if only the thought came to her sooner, maybe she would've… The library would've let her use the phone, and if they didn't, then she could always ask some random stranger, after all, almost everyone who walks this planet has a cell phone in their back pocket, and if not there, then in some pocket of some sort.

Hearing the soft engine of a car, Jeanette immediately opened her eyes in anticipation, hoping. Hoping that it would be someone she knew, or her sisters—or at least anyone who would have the heart to pull over and lend a ride to her. But what were the possibilities that someone would bother to stop and waste their car's gas on her? Not very much, that's for sure…

Pursing her lips hopefully, a silver small van drove on by, the driver not even taking a glance at Jeanette.

Slouching her shoulders, Jeanette mindlessly crossed her legs, resting both elbows on top, setting her chin in the palm of her hands. Lazily glancing side to side, all hope lost, another car whizzed on by, once again passing her. Trailing the car with her eyes, watching while it disappeared from sight, she spotted another car from that direction heading her way. Watching while the car got closer, she continued to watch while the driver in the car glanced at her, and if she was seeing correctly, she could've sworn the driver looked at her like she was crazy. It wasn't _her_ idea to "hang out" at the pavilion on a rainy day, plus it's not like she was having a picnic or anything… Why couldn't the driver—or any driver—just understand all she needed was a _ride_? Couldn't anyone these days tell when someone needed some help anymore? Another car then drove on by, glancing at Jeanette like the one before, and too, passing on by. _Apparently not_…

A small frown soon began to slowly edge its way across Jeanette's lips, stretching down as each second ticked on by. Furrowing her eyebrows longingly, Jeanette leaned forward, trying to see any sign of a familiar face, or car passing on by. This day had to have been National Frown Day or something…all she's been doing was pout…

Once again, hearing the smooth engine of another car heading its way, Jeanette looked in the direction, green emerald eyes glistening with a small hope. Sitting up straight, staring at the driver, she slouched once again already seeing the driver not even glancing and passing her by…once again, like all the other cars. The toxic gas that puffed out of the engine, leaving behind a long trail of fog, caused the brunette to scrunch her face in disgust at the smell. Waving her hand back and forth in front of her face, trying to shoo away the gas, she released all the muscles in her arm letting it drop hopelessly.

Soon she heard the light sound of tires turning on the hard asphalt ground, except it wasn't exactly the sound of a cars tire…

Leaning forward, looking to the right, where she was hearing the noise, get louder and louder—clearly getting nearer and neared to her, she leaned back once she saw the source of the noise. It was exactly what she'd guessed: a random person riding their bike.

Waiting patiently for the rider to pass her, hoping he might help her in some way, but doubting the person would even give her the time of day, she uncrossed her legs, and relaxed her back more, letting it press into the long, metal table, nailed to the cement.

After some time, what she had been expecting rode on by. The biker was peddling as fast as he could—trying to get out of the weather and safely home, Jeanette presumed. The biker seemed to be holding onto a black coat, draped over his head, as to keep his head safely shielded away from the pounding rain. Pursing her lips, Jeanette straightened her back, staring at the biker. Catching the biker glancing over at her, a small seed of hope began to sprout. But as soon as the guy never slowed down, or came to a rescuing halt, that seed of hope withered and died inside of Jeanette, while once again, she slumped her back. Maybe today was Friday the thirteenth, Jeanette considered in misery. She always got bad luck the worst out of her sisters…even if bad luck was some superstition and she knew better to not believe in that kind of captivity…

Realizing that she'd put much too much of hope in the biker, Jeanette threw her hands up in despair, and also, in disbelief.

"I'm going to be stuck here _f_orever!" She whined helplessly, obviously knowing it wouldn't be "forever" but still a long time to wait. A long time to wait in reality may not necessarily be equivalent to forever, but at the moment, it did. She was doing the math, and double-checking it too!

Letting out an exasperated sigh, she slumped in her spot, sulking, and folded her arms while another frown tugged at the corners of her lips. She's never glowered _this _much in her life—with all of this grimacing, her lips might as well stay _permanently_ this way! Lovely…now she was being a pessimist; she was breaking at the seams. Holding the attitude she normally had together was getting complicated. Closing her eyes, she then slowly began to rub her temples, trying to revise of a way to get back home. This was such a ruff day…such a cruel day…such a horrible day…

"Jeanette?" A voice suddenly called, causing Jeanette to snap her head up in response.

Glancing around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice, she then spotted out of the corner of her eye, the same navy blue bike that passed by earlier, backing up. When the boy on the bike finally got directly in front of Jeanette's view, he gave her a confused look, but gave her a small wave.

Waving back, dumbfounded, Jeanette's eyes went big when she finally recognized the figure on the bike. "Simon!" she half gasped, half cheered while jumping out of her spot, and running over to him.

"What are you doing here? It's pouring rain—aren't you cold?" Simon asked, not totally filled in on what was going on.

"Well I—"

"Here," Simon said, handing Jeanette his jacket. "You're probably freezing," he said noticing how wet she was.

"Oh," Jeanette said, taking the jacket, her face flushing a bright pink. "Thanks." Looking over at him, she then handed it back, "But you should take it, you need it more than I do, and you could catch a cold, and—"

"No, I'm fine—you're _soaking_ wet—you need it more than I do." Simon insisted, pushing the jacket back towards her.

"But—" Jeanette tried to reject, only to be silenced.

"Jeanette, really, it's fine." Simon persisted. Watching while Jeanette draped his jacket over her shoulders, he then began checking Jeanette's condition up and down. Seeing how wet she was, and considering the chilly air, along with the condition of the weather, he then said, "Here, hop on."

Dumbfounded, staring at the bespectacled boy clueless, Jeanette gripped onto the collar of the navy blue jacket, and questioned, "What?"

"Hop on my bike," Simon said, glancing behind him at the extra, slim seat at the end of his bike. "I'll bike you home."

Going wide-eyed, Jeanette furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, while she peered over at the end seat, then back at Simon, then back at the seat. "W-w-what?"

He chuckled and smiled slightly. "I said, 'I'll bike you home.'" He repeated wording each word slowly.

"Oh, um, o-okay—one second," she said, running back under the pavilion. Grimacing while she stared shortly at her now sopping library book, she quickly grabbed the book and ran back over to Simon. Slowing down when she was only a few steps away, she eyed the end seat. Hesitating, she took one more step, and touched the seat. Looking at Simon, she quavered, "On t-t-this?" Seeing him nod his head, she looked back at the seat. Shaking her head, Jeanette stepped back. "A-a-actually, m-maybe I won't—it doesn't look too safe."

"It's fine Jeanette, you'll be fine. If you stay out here in the cold, you're going to catch your death—so please, just get on—plus the weather's lightened up a bit, and I'm not sure how long this rain will last."

"B-b-but—" Jeanette stuttered.

"You'll be fine," he promised. "Besides, the chances of you falling off aren't likely just as long as you hold on tight." He sighed clearly seeing her hesitancy, then said, "Theodore's done this with me before…" He waited for any comments. "Look, uh—" he cleared his throat modestly "—we both know how Theodore can be…so, if he can do it, I am certain you can. Trust me. You'll be fine."

"Well, I-I-I guess if you say so," she relaxed a little, hearing him say she'd be fine with such sincerity. Getting up on the seat, sitting on side-ways, she then quickly added, "But I still don't think this is the best way." Hoping he might come up with some better option she could trust with more confidence.

Watching Jeanette, making sure she got on securely, Simon then caught her damaged library book out of the corner of his eye. Observing the drenched book, he watched while she tucked it safely away in the protection of his borrowed jacket. "What happened to the book?" He questioned, staring while Jeanette struggled to get comfortable on the end seat.

"O-oh, yeah, the book, r-r-right, um, well, I, uh, tripped, and you see, the book, it flew out of my…hands…" She trailed off, not bothering to finish for she was beginning to feel ashamed and embarrassed.

Slowly nodding his head understandingly, he then stopped. "Wait, you tripped? A-a-are you alright? How did you fall?"

"I-I'm fine, as I can't say too much the same for this…book…I wish I could…" She frowned, then quickly added, "And I tripped because I was running." She bit her lip, remembering the incident.

"Oh, well," Simon began, taking his black framed glasses off and drying the rain splatters on the lenses with the tip his blue V-necked shirt. "Ready?" He asked, placing his glasses back on.

Nodding her head and clutching onto her seat, Jeanette then said insecurely, "Ready as I'll ever be."

Turning towards the front, Simon then turned back around. "Uh, I think it might be best if you held onto me, instead of the seat—if you want to that is, I-I mean, it might be easier and safer—I-I-if you know what I mean."

Feeling that it would be just that much weird, she kindly turned him down. "Oh, I, uh, I think I can hold on." Jeanette said, uncertainty edging in her voice. Just watch…she probably "jinxed" herself, and now she'll fall off… She couldn't help a small regretful groan pass through her vocal cords.

"Alright," he slowly said, facing towards the handle bars and gripping on to them. "I guess if you say so... Hold on tight," Simon warned, pushing his feet off the ground.

Swaying at the sudden movement, losing balance on the seat, Jeanette immediately wrapped her arms around the only thing she trusted the most: Simon. Realizing what she just did, she then smiled shyly, cheeks heating up, and laughed nervously, "Um, maybe I can make exceptions…"

Chuckling, Simon rolled his eyes, and said, "This time heed my words when I say hold on tight, okay?"

Feeling her cheeks heat up even more, Jeanette silently nodded her head, keeping her grip securely around Simon.

Peddling, Simon then accelerated his speed, feeling the rain get heavier, and heavier. As the time had passed on by, the sky faded darker, and darker, filling in for the place of the evening pink sky. Gazing through rain splattered lenses, Jeanette finally found herself rushing through a familiar street. The night street lamps were glowing brightly, illuminating the way. While riding on by the houses, Simon finally caught sight of his destination up ahead, at the corner of the street.

As soon as Jeanette felt the bike come to a halt, she immediately looked around and finally realized where she was. While getting off the bike, she set the tip of her foot down cautiously, as if the ground would break at her weight, before fully getting off and letting the ground collide with the flat of her shoes. Letting out a relieved sigh, Jeanette turned to Simon, who had been watching. "Thank you so much, Simon. I mean, I know it's a lot for you to take me back home…"

"Oh, you are very welcome Jeanette, I really don't mind—anything for a friend, right?" Simon grinned.

Nodding her head, she too smiled, "Right."

Glancing down at her watch, Jeanette then gasped. "Oh no," she panicked heading down the path to the front door of her home, "I've got to hurry!" Turning to Simon, she gave him an apologetic smile, "Sorry, but Britt—"

"Say no more," Simon chuckled, "I get it, trust me."

"Thanks Simon, and sorry, and thank you again for taking me home!" she called, skipping up the front porch steps, and colliding with the door. Fumbling around to get the doorknob to turn, she finally pushed the door open. Bolting through, Jeanette turned around and waved goodbye one last time to Simon.

Waving back, Simon then headed on his way back to his own home.

Watching while he left, Jeanette then shut the door and ran into the living room, but then came to a halt. Looking down at her attire, seeing Simon's jacket, she let a gasp escape her lips, and slid the jacket off, letting her library book fall down to the ground, and rushed to the front door. Struggling to get it open like she did when trying to get in, she finally managed and ran out onto the front porch. Frantically glancing around, Jeanette let her shoulders slump, seeing that Simon was long gone out of sight already.

"Oh no," she groaned.

Slumping back inside the house, Jeanette shut the door behind her and walked into the living room, setting the jacket down on a couch next door, and picked up off the ground her damaged library book, setting it down on a nearby table. Feeling the need to return the jacket weighing down on her shoulders, she walked back to the front door only to be stopped by someone clearing their throat. Freezing in place, Jeanette slowly turned around only to see exactly the one person she wanted to see last perched at the top of the stairs: Brittany.

Getting intimidated by Brittany's harsh glare, fold of arms, and tapping of foot, Jeanette took her eyes and fixed them down at her sneakers, pursing her lips. True, Jeanette probably should've been used to this by now, and not fear it, but some things just never change. This was Brittany, and this was her. End of story.

Shyly peering up at Brittany, she smiled, and gave a small wave. "Hey, Brittany," she nervously greeted. Preparing herself for the worst, she closed her eyes, and waited for the storm to pass on by.

Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Brittany looked at the time, and then glared back at Jeanette. "Do you know what timeit is?" She asked sweetly, forcing a smile.

"The time?" Jeanette asked, clueless to what Brittany meant. Looking down at her watch, she began, "Why, it's six—"

"NO, Jeanette!" Brittany cut in furiously, causing Jeanette to flinch back. "That's not what I meant!"

"O-o-oh, r-right," Jeanette stuttered, fumbling with her glasses on her nose. "That's not what you…meant...silly me to think that…" She sighed, slouching against the door. Here it comes…

"Well, _duh_—Jeanette, I asked you to be home by six! Is that just too much to ask for? NO! Definitely _not_," Brittany scoffed. "I mean, it's not like I'm asking you to go run on foot, all the way down to Paris, just to fetch me some million dollar dress! Jeanette, you said you'd come with me to this party along with Eleanor! Look at the time!" Brittany whined, pointing over at the clock hanging on the wall. "See that, we were _supposed_ to leave twenty minutes earlier! But where were you?! Definitely not in this house, or of that matter, anywhere around it! Do you know what this could do to my reputation? Being late to this party?!"

"W-w-well, Brittany, I-I-I can explain, you see I—" Jeanette tried to reason, only to be cut off, once again.

"How, huh?" Brittany snapped angrily. "How can you possibly make up for this? This party—I-it's my reputation! It's my life! Now I'm ruined! Tammy Sorenson will never let me down for this now! I can't—I wasn't supposed to miss this party! Or at least be _late_! How do you expect me to face Tammy, huh?" Brittany spazzed, pulling at her hair, for Tammy Sorenson, or in other words, Brittany's worst nightmare and rival, would be there. And the history between the two beauty queens went way back since middle school. It's not that the two started off with a bad start, it was really at first sight, like Shakespeare's _Romeo and _Juliet, except it wasn't love—it was pure, wretched hate.

"Brittany," Jeanette began, "I can explain for my delay—a-a-and I'm sure there are plenty of other parties out there—I-I mean, what makes this one any different than the other parties?"

Gasping, Brittany stared at her younger sister in disbelief. "What," she began, taking a step down the stairs. "Do," she took another step. "You," once again, she took another step. "Mean?" She growled, taking the last step on the staircase. "Jeanette!" She barked, stomping towards her little sister. "Do you know what party this is? What it means? Didn't I just explain to you?"

"Well, because of Tammy Sorenson?" Jeanette said, her statement coming out in timidity.

"It shouldn't be a question, Jeanette," Brittany growled, stomping off into the living room. "You know how Tammy gets! She's not gonna keep her stupid little mouth shut until I end up crying all the way home!"

"I-I-I'm so sorry, Brittany," Jeanette apologized, feeling utterly terrible. "I honestly didn't know how much this meant to you—I'm sorry—I really tried to get home on time, but it's just, it began to rain, and I tripped, and the weather got worse, and—I really am sorry." Jeanette apologized once again, following her sister. "Can't we just take the car and drive there now?"

Perking up at that, Brittany then slumped on the couch in remembrance. "No, we can't," she said sadly, cooling her steam off a bit. "Ms. Miller is out tonight, remember? She was our ride, Jeanette. Since the party was just on the way to _her _destination, she said she'd be 'happy to give us a lift,' but since you didn't show up, well I'm sure you can get the story." Brittany hastily said, folding her arms. "And why are you soaking wet? Don't you have an umbrella?" Brittany shot, just realizing how wet her bespectacled sister was.

"It—" Jeanette began. "It blew away…" She mumbled.

"Typical." Brittany snorted.

Letting out a sigh, Jeanette then questioned, "Why didn't you leave without me? You know you could've if you wanted too…"

Snapping her head up, Brittany then simply said, "I couldn't." Looking at her nails, examining each painted nail carefully, she then said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You're my _sister, _Jeanette. Do you really think I'd leave without you? Plus, Eleanor, ugh," Brittany scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You know she wouldn't even let me anyway—or at least she'd deny me going—"

"Jeanette!" A voice suddenly exclaimed at the top of the stairs.

Both older sisters glanced up at the top of the stairs, and there, the youngest of the three sisters stood, grinning widely.

"And speaking of—there she is." Brittany rolled her eyes, once again. "Perfect timing Eleanor," she complemented, now filing her nails. "Timed it just like the movies."

Dashing down the stairs, Eleanor gleamed brightly, while giving Jeanette a big tight hug. "You're alright, thank goodness!" she exclaimed happily.

"Well, uh, yeah—" Jeanette began.

"We were beginning to worry about you! Where have you been this whole time? What kept ya?" Eleanor immediately asked, getting comfy on the ground, as if she were a child sitting in a circle while the teacher read a story book.

"Oh, well," Jeanette began, too getting comfy on the couch beside Brittany who pretended to show no interest in what she had to say. "I was where I'm usually at—you know, the library—and well, I lost track of time, so I rushed out." She said, replaying the past in her mind. "Oh, and you know that super smart kid, Timothy Redwood? I found out why he's so smart!"

"Lemme guess, he had twenty billion math books, and thirteen hundred science books, right?" Brittany guessed, rolling her eyes at the thought of the nerdy boy.

"Well, actually he did have textbooks—seven of them to be precise." Jeanette concluded. "Anyway, when I came outside from the library, the weather was worse from earlier. So I tried to rush home, but, I, uh, tripped, and well, yeah," Jeanette rambled on, fumbling around with the right choices of words. "I then found shelter under a pavilion, and waited."

"Oh, so how'd you get back here?" Eleanor questioned, big brown eyes blinking in curiosity and sympathy.

"Well, Simon came riding on by on his bike—"

"He what?!" Brittany exclaimed, dropping her nail filer. "What was he doing riding his bike out in the rain? Isn't that dangerous or something?"

"Well, he, uh, he was…" Jeanette paused. "I have no clue to what he was doing…" She finally realized.

"He was stalking you!" Brittany shouted out. "That's what! It's in those Seville's blood to do strange, creepy things!"

Giving Brittany a look, Eleanor exchanged looks with Jeanette, and rolled her eyes, letting out a sigh. "Oh, Brittany," she shook her head, "you know that's probably not even close to what Simon was actually doing. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Brittany waved it off. "He's related to Alvin, I think it sounds reasonable if you caught Simon, or even Theodore for goodness sakes, spying, or doing something troublesome."

At the sound of Simon's name, Jeanette glanced over at Brittany. "Brittany, we're serious. You know Simon wouldn't do something that rash, and definitely not Theodore. Please be reasonable."

"I was," Brittany simply said, getting up off the couch and heading towards the stairs.

"Where're you going?" Eleanor asked, jumping to her feet.

Freezing in place, Brittany turned and said, "I'm going upstairs to change clothes since a certain _someone," _she glared over at Jeanette for a spit second, "Has ruined my plans, and not to mention my life."

Smiling uneasily, Jeanette cowered into the seat of the couch. "Brittany, I meant it when I said I was sorry."

Rolling her eyes, Brittany marched up the stairs waving it off.

"It's okay, Jeanette," Eleanor calmly said. "You know how Brittany is."

Nodding her head, Jeanette commented, "Yeah, I know, Brittany really can get a little, er—let's say, unreasonable, but she's our sister."

"Jeanette, a 'little' isn't even close, I mean c'mon, really? I think you mean a _lot_." Eleanor corrected, grinning widely and giving her a wink, while heading towards the kitchen. "I think I'm going to cook us all some lasagna or something—pizza, maybe even, since our dinner was supposed to be at the, uh, you know, party."

"Oh, yeah, right…I'm really sorry about that…" Jeanette apologized, once again.

"Jeanette, I already told you, it's really okay. You didn't mean for this to happen." Eleanor stated, now in the kitchen grabbing some ingredients out of the cupboards. "Plus, it's not like I really wanted to go that badly…"

Letting out a sigh, Jeanette glanced around the living room and grabbed her ruined book. Opening the hard covered book, she attempted to flip through the pages, but shut the still sopping book in failure. Setting the book down, she let out a groan. "Now the library will probably ban me from ever checking a book out!"

Getting up, off the couch, she paused, still holding Simon's jacket. Glancing at the door, and back down at the jacket, and back at the door, she pursed her lips and called out, "Hey, do you girls think the Sevilles would be at the party?"

"Well," Eleanor began, peering out of the kitchen entrance, whisk and mixing bowl in hand. "Maybe, I mean, they probably would, but then again, I have no clue. I didn't get the chance to talk to Theodore today," she ended, mumbling the last part.

"I wouldn't waste my time going over there, Jeanette," Brittany said, appearing at the top of the stairs. "That jacket you've got there, it's Simon's, right?" she asked, pointing directly at the said item.

"Well, yeah," Jeanette confirmed, "He lent me the jacket because of my, uh, condition."

"Chances are Mr. Simon and sweet, sweet, little Theodore went along with their twerp of a brother to the party—they probably left as soon as Simon got home. Unlike _me_," Brittany emphasized, pointing at herself, "they don't have a beastly, evil, prissy, primp to show down with. I don't know why _Alvin _needed to go…"

"Oh," was all Jeanette could respond with. Looking over at Eleanor for confirmation, Eleanor nodded her head.

"She's probably right, Jeanette. Like Brittany, Alvin wouldn't miss this party either—the only difference is their motives of why they want to go."

Nodding her head understandingly, Jeanette stared down at the jacket in her hands.

"My case is closed," Brittany curtsied, before leaving the scene. "Just go tomorrow," Brittany called, heading into the bathroom. "I'm sure Simon will be home—after all, it's only a Saturday, and I doubt he has anything _planned_ for the day."

Taking in what her older sister stated, she decided to take her word. "I guess I can go tomorrow—besides you're probably right." She stated, heading upstairs to change, for she was still a bit wet from earlier. Hanging the borrowed jacket on the railing of the stairs, she went up the stairs and into her room. Letting a smile grace her lips, she lightened up, for even though the day had been a disaster, she still got to at least see a friendly face, for that matter.

For the rest of the night, the three sisters spent it alone together. The weather didn't change, and the rain kept pounding down on the ground, as if there was no tomorrow. The night felt as if it was going to last forever to them, but it soon ended.

Daylight broke through the night sky, while the sun rose, and hid behind shadowed clouds. The morning air had a salt-water hint to it, but the air was fresh. The darkened paved sidewalks and roads still were damp from the pouring rain, but they were beginning to lighten and dry up.

Down in the kitchen of the Miller home, Eleanor softly hummed a tune while mixing a batch of her own pancake mix. "Let's see," she began, dipping her finger in the bowl. Frowning disapprovingly at the mix, her face brightened with an idea. Rushing over to the cupboards, she dragged a stool along with her, got up on it, and rummaged through the high cupboards.

At the same time while this event was happening, Jeanette had just woken up. Rubbing her eyes, she grabbed her glasses that were set on her nightstand, and set her glasses on top her nose. Getting up and stretching, she then headed towards the exit of her room, and headed down the stairs and into the kitchen. Covering her mouth while a small yawn escaped her lips, she sat down at the dinner table. "Good morning, Eleanor," she greeted lazily, adjusting her glasses.

"Morning, Jeanette," she chirped back. "Have you seen the cinnamon?" She asked, moving on to a different cupboard. "I can't find it anywhere—oh, found it!" she chimed, getting down, off the stool.

Letting out a sigh, Jeanette smiled lightly and grabbed the newspaper. Finding the crossword puzzle on the entertainment page, she grabbed a pencil and immediately began filling in the answers. Biting her lip getting stuck on a problem, she ran through her mind of what the answers could possibly be.

_Ding-dong. _

"I'll get it," Jeanette exclaimed at the sound. Dropping the pencil and newspaper on the table, she headed to the front door, and while walking to the door, she straightened her pajamas at the same time. The least she could do was look a little nice… Maybe she should go change quickly before answering the door…?

_Ding-dong._

"Coming," she yelled. Nope, there wasn't time to change. Whoever it was at the door would just have to absorb and accept her appearance—even if it wasn't the most pleasant to look at…

_Ding-dong._

She reached her hand out in distress as soon as she got in distance of the doorknob. "I'm so sorr—" She began, but stopped as soon as she saw who was at the door. "Simon!" she chimed.

Chuckling nervously, Simon waved. "Good morning, Jeanette—forgive me, for the, uh, unnecessary extra doorbell rings. I'm sorry if they were a disturbance…" He apologized, fixing his black framed glasses. "You see, _Alvin _here, got a little impatient." He finished, motioning over to the said person.

"Hey, it's not like I had all day to wait for someone to answer the door!" Alvin fired, folding his arms.

"Yeah, but it's not like you had to ring the doorbell more than once just to get someone to answer the door—once should be good enough." Simon shot back. "Anyway," he said, fixing his composure. "I came over to bring this back to you." He said, lifting up an umbrella and handing it to Jeanette.

"O-o-oh, my umbrella!" she exclaimed taking the item. "W-where did you find it?"

"Well, it wasn't actually me who found it—it was Alvin—"

"Yes," Alvin cut in, "It's true. I was on a dangerous journey, when out of the corner of my eye, that," he pointed over at the umbrella, "caught my eye—"

"_Alvin_," Simon said irked. "Cut it out. What he means is that he found it in our backyard stuck in the tree."

Sighing dramatically, Alvin rolled his eyes. "Wow, Simon, great way to kill the fun; I really was only kidding. I'm sure even Jeanette knew that—"

"_Alvin_," Simon repeated once again, same annoyed tone.

Cowering back a little, Alvin chuckled. "H-hey, take it easy—my lips are sealed."

Scoffing, Simon rolled his eyes. "Anyway," he continued, "we found your name written on the handle, so, uh, yeah…here we are, giving it back." Simon ended, scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh, well thanks." Jeanette said glad to have her umbrella back.

"Awe, isn't this just sweet," Alvin smirked, causing Jeanette to blush a bright pink.

Hearing that, Simon then sent Alvin a meaningful glare, to which he responded as if he had no clue to what it meant. Letting out a sigh, Simon then said, "Please don't mind any attention to him—he only came along to gloat—er, I mean, talk to Brittany." He finished, glancing over at Alvin who had a scowl on his face.

"Oh," Jeanette edged, "right." She looked to the top of the stairs. Was having Alvin talk to Brittany such a good thing? Maybe he should come back tomorrow, when Brittany had more time to cool off from not being able to go to the party…

"Hey, Simon," Eleanor suddenly greeted from the kitchen, "hi, Alvin."

"Good morning, Eleanor," Simon greeted back.

Letting himself in, Alvin too greeted back, "Hey, Eleanor—do you know where Brittany is?" He asked, adjusting his red cap on his head.

"Umm—yeah, I think she's up in her room." Eleanor answered, dusting the flour off of her apron.

"Thanks!" Alvin said, running up the stairs.

Rolling her eyes, Eleanor then asked noticing the absence of a certain someone, "Where's Theodore?" Usually when one brother came to their house, all of the other brother's came along.

"Oh, right, almost forgot to tell you—he's coming over. He said he needed to do something first—but I'm sure he'll be over in no time soon." Simon answered after glancing down at his watch.

"Okay," Eleanor grinned brightly, walking back inside the kitchen.

Pursing her lips, Jeanette stared down at her toes, not sure of what to say. Inhaling a deep breath, she looked up at Simon. "Well—oh!" She gasped, turning around. "Almost forgot," she said, grabbing the hanging navy blue jacket on the stair rail. Turning back around, she handed Simon the jacket. "Sorry, I forgot to give this back to you." She smiled apologetically.

"Oh, it's no problem, really." He said, taking it and draping it over his arm.

Hesitating, unsure whether or not she should ask, Jeanette then said, "Um, Simon, can I ask you a question?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, anything. Ask away," Simon beckoned.

"About yesterday, what exactly were you doing riding your bike in such weather?" She asked, for ever since Brittany brought it up, the question had been eating at her mind. Surely what Brittany said about Simon was incorrect. There had to be a more decent, logical explanation for him riding his bike, other than Brittany's "stalker" logic. She knew Simon knew better than to ride his bike in a thunderstorm. After all, she knew very well that lightning can get attracted to metal, and doesn't Simon's bike have some sort of metal on it? Even if there was a small possibility that he wouldn't get struck, he'd still choose the safest choice, wouldn't he? But then again, if he felt it was absolutely necessary, then he'd do whatever it would take…

"Oh," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I, uh, forgot some of my lab notes in my math class, and I kinda needed the notes to do my experiments back at home…"

Nodding her head understandingly, she then paused. "But how come when you came by me, I didn't see any of your notes? And what were you doing at the school so late? Did it take you that long to get the notes?"

"Well, you see Mr. Kranium, the science teacher, was still there, and I chatted with him for some time, but during that period of time, that one tree that's tilted, and looks about ready to fall over—you know what one I'm talking about?"

Trying to identify the tree he was talking about, Jeanette raised her eyebrows. "You mean that one tree you always said would fall over any day?" Jeanette questioned, remembering that by the school parking lot, there was this one tree half removed from the ground because of someone crashing into it with their car. Simon always predicted it to fall…did it finally give in to his statement?

"Precisely, and it fell on _his_, Mr. Kranium's, car, so I kind of had to help him out, and yeah, during that period of time, my notes just so happened to get damaged by the rain, and—I think you can get the rest of the story…" Simon trailed off, and then added, "Of course, that is, if you need me to explain the rest of it, then I can…"

"Oh, no—I think I got it…so you had a pretty horrible day too, huh?" Jeanette concluded, linking her hands together behind her back.

"Well, yeah, I guess," Simon began, "but it wasn't that bad actually—I mean, I met you—that's not a bad thing…"

"Oh," Jeanette shyly half smiled, blushing a bit.

Letting out a sigh, dropping his gaze to the ground, Simon then gleamed, "Hey, would you like to come over to my house? I'm trying to create a cure for a disease in Africa, but I'm a little bit stumped so…I just thought, maybe if I could have a different perspective other than mine, I might be able to figure it out…"

Blinking her eyes, Jeanette then asked mindlessly, "Well, where do you plan to find another companion to help you?"

"Well, you Jeanette," Simon exclaimed excitedly. "What friend of mine could possibly have a better opinion than yours?"

"Well—" Jeanette started to object, but stopped.

"Why didn't I think of this before? Of course!" he face palmed his forehead, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "So, what do you say? You in?"

Thinking it through, Jeanette nodded her head. "I'm in," she smiled. "But first let me change." Turning, she began heading up the stairs after her bespectacled friend smiled and nodded in response.

Jeanette, not wanting to waste time, rushed up the stairs and burst into her room. Digging through her closet, she grabbed the first thing she saw and quickly undressed herself. Zipping up a plain, violet colored skirt, she quickly pulled a white, loose tank top and slid on a periwinkle blazer. Folding up the sleeves to the blazer, for they were too long, she then grabbed a hair tie and carelessly pulled her brown hair up in a bun. Running out of her room, and into the bathroom to check herself in the mirror, she shrugged her shoulders, and skipped down the stairs, sliding on a pair of black flats next to the door.

Turning towards the door, Simon smiled at her. "Ready?"

Nodding her head, readjusting her glasses, Jeanette began, "Ye—"

"ALVIN—I'M GONNA _KILL _YOU!" a voice suddenly screamed from upstairs, causing Jeanette to nearly jump out of her shoes, along with making her hand accidently knock her glasses off. Trying to catch her only hope of seeing a clear vision, she stopped when Simon, thankfully, caught her glasses. Checking her glasses to make sure they were in good shape, he handed them back to her, giving her a small grin.

"T-thanks," she said, taking her glasses, immediately fixing them on her nose. "Nice catch…" Returning him the smile, it slowly faded away when muffled voices began speaking up. Tightening her jaw, she slowly followed her gaze to the direction to the source of the noise. Suddenly the noise of a door slamming open from upstairs in the Miller's home echoed throughout the house.

"Hey, Britt, take it easy," a voice chuckled, edging in a joking and uneasy tone, followed right after the echo.

Glancing at each other, both Simon and Jeanette fixed their gazes upstairs.

"Excuse me?" The voice that yelled, evidently belonging to Brittany, sweetly replied. "Take it _easy?_ Of course, _Alvin_, whatever you say. Oh, and by the way, have I ever told you that today it's opposite day for me?"

Once again, the two bespectacled friends glanced at each other and fixed theirs gazes back upstairs, but this time in an urgent manner.

"Oh dear," Jeanette nearly whispered, biting her bottom lip, waiting for the blow. She knew Alvin coming over wouldn't be a great idea… "I don't think this is going to end very well…"

Suddenly Simon reached out and grabbed Jeanette's hand pulling her with him. "Shut the door," he quickly said. Nodding her head understandingly, Jeanette swiftly caught hold of the doorknob along with her before she stepped out onto the porch. As soon as she got stable, she soon found herself being pulled. "C'mon," Simon exclaimed, beginning to break out into a run, still holding onto her hand tightly.

Without saying a word, Jeanette went along with him, a thousand questions swarming around in her head. Following Simon as best as she could, she glanced behind her while the view began to zoom out and away from her. After coming to a turn, Simon finally slowed down. Letting out a deep breath, he looked at his surroundings and grinned. "Wow, didn't think we'd get that far."

"Uh, Simon," Jeanette asked between breaths. "Why exactly," she huffed, "are we—well, were we r-running?" She finally got out.

Standing up straight, Simon readjusted his glasses on his nose. "Well, I didn't want to exactly be around to get caught up in whatever mess Alvin got himself into with Brittany—plus I don't really want to be there to see Alvin meet his death…," Simon said, taking a deep breath.

"Oh," Jeanette smiled, "right—we all know how Brittany can get…"

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of."

Dropping her gaze down to her shoes, she paused, and slightly looked back up at her hand, seeing that Simon was still holding onto it. Feeling a burning heat warm her cheeks, she bit her lip not sure whether or not she should say something. Opening her mouth, she stopped, for the words were trapped in her throat. Closing her mouth, she tried once more, and all that escaped from her lips was a simple, "Uh."

Hearing something from what he thought was Jeanette, Simon looked over at her, only to see her gaze shifted downward. Following her gaze curiously, he nearly had a heart-attack, but kept his cool. Chuckling nervously, his cheeks heated up, and he let go of her hand and said, "I guess I got a bit, uh, attached there…sorry about that…"

Immediately looking up, she shook her head. "Oh, I-it's fine," she quavered. "You can hold my hand anytime…" She ended, but paused rewinding the words in her head. Replaying the words over and over in her head, after a short second, she immediately went big eyed. "Oh my—I-I-I meant that I-I-it's fine if you hold my hand—wait, no, I mean, it's alright for you to—no, no, I take that back! I mean, it's okay with me that you held my hand, and oh—you get what I mean, right?"

"Uh, yeah, totally—I mean, you meant that it was alright that I held your hand and—uh, why don't we hurry and get to my house?" Simon quickly said, changing the subject, for it was something he never was an expertise in… "I really want to hear your opinion and what you think about, you know, my experiment…" He ended trailing off.

"Uh, y-yeah, let's go." Jeanette said, giving a small grin.

Picking up the pace in their walk, the two walked on, and talked about things such as the new technology that's been coming out and other things similar to the new discoveries and theories that have been proven to be true.

The whole time through though while they were talking, Jeanette had been staring down at her hand thinking through all the events that got her to where she was now.

Maybe losing her umbrella and being stuck in the rain wasn't as horrible as she thought after all…

* * *

**So there's that and the next one I'm really excited for! For this piece, I tried to over view it and change it so it wasn't too plain, and again, I'm not sure how much I really like my work on this...but I hope you guys liked it! I hope it wasn't too sappy to read... And I apologize if I may have exaggerated the whole "college" part... I'm not in college yet, so, just bare with me on that. ;D**

***I noticed that I put/add a bunch of random characters here and there, and they may not really be all that essential, but they do play a roll that I need them to, just to point out something specific about the character I'm trying to display, so...I don't know whether you guys ever wonder about that, or possibly get bothered, but I'm just marking my reason; plus these guys (the Chipmunks and Chipettes) aren't going to be living with the same exact people their whole lives. ;D***

**I hope you guys enjoyed this and review and tell me what you think! Again, thanks for reading!**

**Oh, and special shout out to all those who reviewed/favorited! Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you so much to all of you who have read and not to mention reviewed! :D**

**So, this is Alvin & Brittany, and I am way excited for you guys to read this! I enjoyed writing this one so much! This one is definitely my favorite, and you may say otherwise depending on the type of person, but I hope you enjoy this!**

* * *

Stomping in the small puddles created by the beating rain, Brittany Miller let out a huff while tugging her cheerleading bag on her shoulder into a more comfortable position. Glaring up at the sky, she rolled her eyes. Of course it would rain today—yeah, sure, it was a beautiful day—over in South Africa that is!

"_It's a beautiful day today."_

Brittany rolled her eyes at the words Ms. Miller, her caretaker and mother figure, had said earlier in the day, while stomping in each puddle she had to step in.

"Yeah, it's just so _glamorous _today, Ms. Miller." Brittany grumbled to herself, hearing the words echoing in the back of her mind repeatedly.

"_You can walk to cheer practice, my dear, and you should walk. It's always nice to walk in nature—it's time that you start noticing the beauty around you…and you'll be able to get some exercise in, too!" _

"Uh-huh, yeah, I'm just _embracing _mother nature over here. I'm totally skipping across the road, dancing with butterflies in the sunshine. And not to mention I'm sure I'll be as skinny as a twig by the time I get to school! I _definitely_ don't get enough exercise from cheer practice."

"_I'm sure you can live without driving the car for just today, and of course, the rest of the week, Brittany."_

Snorting at the thought, Brittany picked up her pace. "I think I'd rather _die _than _walk._"

Of course, what she said wasn't nearly all honest, but it was close enough to the truth.

Earlier that week—meaning yesterday—Brittany had gotten grounded for taking her car out too late and coming home past her curfew. Of course since she broke the rules that Ms. Miller had set, Brittany had to pay up for her act. For her punishment, she lost her privileges to driving her car, her curfew was set to an earlier time, and of course she couldn't hang out with anyone unless it was really necessary. And being the mother Ms. Miller was, she only made the punishment go on for one week, for she knew Brittany actually did have purpose for driving the car. Right now, it was currently: day one of her grounded week. But, as Brittany would like to put it, it was merely day one of pure torture and agony.

"Now I'm talking to myself like some lunatic, that's just…peachy…" Brittany scrunched her nose in annoyance.

Letting out a sigh, she held her ground and looked down at her cheer shoes. Frowning seeing they were soaking wet, and not to mention beginning to get a bit muddy, she let out another sigh, irked. Now she was going to have to get _new_ cheer shoes!—and she just got these ones last month! Wonderful… If there was anything she hated, it was to have dirty things, and to have to actually wear them…it was so embarrassing! Picking her gaze back up, straight ahead, she marched off to her destination.

The dark gray clouds continued to pour rain out of them like a waterfall, seeping deeply into everything it could touch. The sun hid behind the clouds like a child would when frightened, and the fresh smell of rain stung at Brittany's nose.

Switching her heavy white cheer bag to her left shoulder, Brittany folded her arms at the chill that began to creep up her bare legs and up her spine. At the moment, she currently had her uniform on, and a light jacket, but that was it. Maybe if someone had at least _told _her that it was going to rain, she would've dressed a bit more appropriately, but no—or better yet, if Ms. Miller had let her driven her car, she wouldn't be dealing with this problem, and she'd already be at the school, but then again, _no_. None of these choices were available. At least the rain wasn't _too_ bad…

Pursing her lips, Brittany squinted her eyes seeing a slick black SUV, off in the distance, heading her way. Widening her eyes, an urgent gasp escaped her lips. She knew who the car belonged to…it belonged to that super, extremely, hot quarterback on her school's football team...! Feeling her heartbeat speed up and pound loudly in her ears, about ready to strike right out of her chest, Brittany frantically looked around for a hiding spot. Seeing nowhere to hide and figuring that whoever was in the car already had noticed her, she bit her bottom lip and hoped the driver wouldn't recognize her.

Closing her eyes, keeping her head faced away from the road, she listened silently while she stepped as naturally as she could. Her legs wanted to break for it so badly, just to save her from having a heart attack from stupidity and total embarrassment—but running would probably make a much bigger fool out of herself than the situation she was in. Man, was this just embarrassing! She should've just asked someone from her cheer team to give her a ride—wait, why didn't she think of that before? Feeling a pang of stupidity soar through her body and mind, Brittany mentally slapped herself in the face repeatedly. How could she have been so _dumb_? This was going to haunt her in her dreams…

As the car neared and eventually passed on by, Brittany could hear the loud speakers in the car blasting music, and the voices of several boys laughing and cheering. It almost was as if they were having a party in there… Was the whole football team in there?! Flashing her eyes open at the thought, Brittany immediately looked behind her at the car as soon as it whizzed on by. Maybe by some weird luck she had mistaken the car as someone else's and it wasn't anyone she knew...?

Scanning the back windshield of the white car, in search for the white printed sticker of the Swooshlogofrom the Nike sports brand, Brittany's jaw dropped down to the ground and she picked up her pace even faster.

"Crap!" she muttered to herself, for she had seen the one thing she was hoping she _wouldn't_ see.

What would the guys in the car think of her now? They probably thought she was a complete _loser_ that's what! Who was in the car? Probably half the football team! Or worse, all of the football team! Did they recognize her? Probably! Why did all the answers have to be bad?!

This was _by far_, one of the _worst_ days ever. She couldn't help but bet that no one in the entire world ever could over power their problems with _hers._

_If only there wasn't ever any football practice today…_ She thought to herself. Pausing at the thought, a small frown tugged at Brittany's lips. There wasn't supposed to be football practice today after school…but because they had to cancel football practice the other day… Puzzling the pieces together, Brittany's eyes widened.

It's because of the football practice that was placed right after school! That's why she's even in this state! Cheer practice usually is right after school for her and the other cheerleaders, but since they couldn't use the football field for practicing (which Brittany still had no idea why they _needed _to use the _football _field specifically for cheer; they could easily use the gym or some other field), but since the football players need the field…and she has retarded cheer coaches…all the blame mainly goes to Alvin Seville!

Of course it was his fault! Typical…she should've guessed… It was Alvin who set the date of the football practice—he can do that since he inconveniently is captain of the football team _and_ has a tendency to set inconvenient dates… Just because the homecoming game was coming up, didn't mean he needed to essentially schedule that football practice…

Letting out a sigh, Brittany shook her head… Who was she kidding? It _was _her own fault for why she was in such a troublesome state… If she wanted to, she could've "talked" to Alvin and had him change the time, or date, or just whatever… She was cheer captain—she's got some power _too_. She could've even come home at an earlier time last night and not get in trouble… Only she, and her alone, could've changed her future…but no… But then again, maybe if Ms. Miller had just let her taken the _car_, then she wouldn't even be dealing with this problem either!

Coming to a four-way road, Brittany went ahead and crossed, still walking straight, not even bothering to check right, or left, or to see if the road was clear. This road was never busy, and cars hardly drove on it—especially on Fridays… At least that's what it felt like to her, but in reality, cars always drove on the road, _especially_ on Fridays. Half the reason as to why she didn't check really was because she just didn't care about her safety at the moment. Plus, the cars would have to stop either way, whether they wanted to or not; the road was an all-way stop, so that's the other half as to why she didn't look.

When Brittany was about half way across the road, a car came up from her right, stopped, and honked. Rolling her eyes figuring it was probably some weirdo (meaning, impatient driver) or pervert, she walked on not even taking a glance. She wasn't exactly in the mood to communicate and yell at the person for honking at her when she was perfectly fine where she was—it's not like she was violating any rules or walking slowly either.

Huffing, Brittany tugged at her cheer bag, readjusting it for the billionth time that day, and walked on. Bringing her hand up to her lightly soaked hair, she checked her ponytail and bangs, making sure it still looked good. Glaring up at the still darkened sky, she blinked and dropped her gaze immediately, feeling the cold rain sprinkle in her eyes and cheeks.

As Brittany walked on, a red sports car suddenly passed her by and pulled over to the side of the road a few feet away from her. Slowing down her pace, she stared at the car in confusion and curiosity. A small familiar sense about the car struck her. She knew the car, and she knew the owner…but the only problem was, _who_ exactly was the owner, again? Obviously, since she couldn't remember, it wasn't a very important person for her to care much about.

As she edged closer to the car, the driver's door suddenly swung open. As the figure stepped out of the car, she instantly halted in her steps. The figure then shut the car door and ran over towards Brittany. The person was clearly a guy, and he had a varsity jacket on over a red T-shirt with dark designer jeans on and a red cap atop his head.

Dumbstruck, Brittany's breath hitched in her throat. _What was he doing here?!_ Better yet, what does he _want_?

Furrowing her eyebrows, Brittany slowly took a couple steps when he was a few feet away to where she stood. "What are you doing here?" she blurted out, finding her breath finally escape her throat.

"Oh, ouch—nice seeing you too, Britt," Alvin smirked, coming to a halt.

"Oh, right, lemme try this again," Brittany smiled sweetly. "Hi, Alvin, glorious weather today, don't you think?" she questioned before her smile instantly faded. "Now what are you doing here?" she shot in fury.

"Relax, _darling_," he soothed, rolling his eyes, chuckling. "Look, Jordy called me—you know Jordy, right? Jordy Eversole, the other quarterback? Yeah—anyway, he called me and told me he saw you walking in the rain. He said that he would've offered you a ride, but his car was kinda full at the moment, so—"

"He asked you to do the job," Brittany finished, feeling that much flattered that someone as attractive and applauded as Jordy would bother to notice her, yet that much annoyed that he didn't even bother to come do the job himself. She rolled her eyes. _Boys…_

"Exactly," Alvin confirmed. "You know, I honked at you earlier, but you just ignored me—you didn't even look at me! Brittany, a tip for the future: next time when a guy honks at you, try to show some courtesy and actually _acknowledge _that they're there. It can hurt their self-esteem."

"That was yo—ugh!" she groaned. "Whatever, Alvin," she muttered, gritting her teeth.

Letting out a sigh, Alvin merely shrugged. "Just saying—a little advice can't hurt, now can it?"

"Uh," Brittany began, switching her cheer bag onto her other shoulder, "when that advice is from _you_, there will have to be some adjustments."

"Hey, just saying," Alvin stated, lifting his hands up in defense. "No need to get all feisty."

"Feisty? You call this _feisty?_" Brittany questioned in disbelief. If there was anything she was being, it definitely wasn't _feisty_. Did he not have any better vocab? Opening her mouth to speak, Alvin beat her to the chase.

"Look, Brittany, do you need a ride or not? We're getting way off subject you know…"

She rolled her eyes, placing her right hand on her hip. "Hey, it wasn't _me _who got us off subject. If you never mentioned that stupid so called 'advice' we would've never gotten off subject," Brittany snickered.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Alvin said, ignoring what she had just said. "Do you need a ride or not?" He asked once again, evidence in his voice showing he was getting a bit impatient.

"I don't need a _ride_," she scoffed. "I can _walk_ you know—that's what these are for," Brittany said indicating to her legs.

"Yeah, but were you meant to walk in the rain with no umbrella of some sort? I'm pretty sure the answer is 'no'—but whatever. If you want to walk, then that's fine with me." Alvin said, beginning to walk backwards towards his car. "Although, are you sure this is what you want? I mean, it's totally fine with me if you need I a ride, but—"

"Alvin, it's fine, I can walk." Brittany injected.

Pausing in his spot, Alvin raised one eyebrow. "Oh, really?" he challenged in disbelief.

"Yes, _really,_" Brittany confirmed. He clearly didn't know her well enough if he didn't think she could handle this. She wasn't a cat that hated water—but she also wasn't a dog that praised the rainfall.

"Alright, whatever you say," he carelessly said.

Beginning to turn around, Alvin then paused and walked back over to Brittany taking his cap off his head and setting it on hers. "To keep your hair dry," he smugly smiled. "See ya later, Britt," he saluted and jogged back to his car.

Surprised at his act, frozen in place, all Brittany could do was stare at Alvin's car, and watch while the back headlights turned on, along with the engine. The red car soon got back onto the road and drove off straight ahead, turning at the next corner.

Alvin Seville actually took off his red cap. She couldn't believe it. And he took it off for _her _of all the people—well, mainly _girls _really. It didn't matter too much for boys…

Shaking her head, as if to gain her conscience back from being hypnotized, she slowly took one step, when the rain suddenly began to fall down harder on the pavement, sounding like an infinite amount of beads were falling from the sky. Looking down at her cheer bag, Brittany's eyes hardened, realizing that her bag was beginning to get _more_ soaked. That meant her bag would get _more_ heavy…and when that happens, that would mean her shoulder would fall off. Feeling the rain fall down in bigger blobs, Brittany began to fast walk. The rain evolved from sprinklers misting the grass to water dripping down from the sky like water would when taking a shower.

Breaking out into a run, for she didn't want her things to get anymore wet than they already were, not to mention she was getting concerned about her shoulder for what if it did fall off? She soon began to regret not taking Alvin up on his offer. What was she thinking, thinking that she could ever stand _walking_ to her high school? It was _raining! _Anyone with a brain would know that the wiser choice would be getting a car ride…and of course she goes off saying she doesn't need one…

The progress of her day so far escalated from _Horrible_ to _Excruciatingly Terrible_ on her scale. First, she loses her privileges to her car, then she ends up having to walk in the rain, and now, just barely, she had to chat with Alvin, of _all_ _people_. What more would happen to her? She already hasn't been asked to the Homecoming Dance yet (and she'd be mortified and completely embarrassed if no one ended up asking her), and she's going to have to waste her money simply to buy new cheer shoes because of the weather today… What's next? This day definitely was destined to get worse.

Finally making it to the turn that she saw Alvin take, she turned on that same corner, for that was the way to her high school.

Making the sharp turn, she found herself on the ground. "Ow," she managed to say, lifting her back up from off the ground so she was in a sitting position. Closing her eyes, while a pang of pain soared through her rear end and up her back, she eventually managed to open her eyes to see what, or who, she had bumped into. Looking up, her eyes widened skeptically. "Alvin?! What the—why are you standing there?!" Brittany shrieked, rubbing her back. "You know, it's kinda an inconvenience with you standing smack there in the center! You almost made me break my butt!"

"Ow, Britt," Alvin rubbed his chest as if to flick of some dust. "What the heck were you doing _running_? With the speed you were going at, it'd almost be as if the Boogie Man were chasing you," Alvin smirked finding the scene a bit humorous. "And tell me how I was supposed to know you'd be running? Jeez, Brittany, if I knew you were running, I would've set up a gold ribbon for you to run through instead of me being your brakes."

"Well, two reasons why! One: the rain's pouring harder now. And two: I don't want to get anymore wet than I already am! _Duh_—and 'ow?' Alvin really? _You're _saying '_ow?_'" Brittany fired in pure disbelief. He barely even looked like he got hurt or felt the hit! "And I don't want a golden ribbon to run through! I want a giant trophy to hit you with!"

Rolling his eyes, Alvin picked Brittany's cheer bag up and walked over to his parked car on the side of the road. Opening the passenger door, he threw the bag in the back seat, and shut the car door. Walking back over to Brittany, he lent her a hand, which she eventually took to her dismay. She was too soar to get up on her own…

"Were you—ow," she grunted still feeling the pain in her back and rear end. "Expecting me?" she asked, while Alvin helped her up to her feet.

"More or less, pretty much, yeah," he answered, "I figured you come 'running' to me."

Rolling her eyes, she scoffed, and then looked at his state, realizing how he actually wasn't in any pain, and barely even took the blow. "Jeez—what do you have under that? A force field? Or did you just start eating rocks for food? You barely look like you even budged!" Brittany whined. "You just about broke my vertebrae over here, and there you are, acting like a feather barely touched you!"

"Calm down," Alvin chuckled. "It's called: muscles. You know, a six-pack?"

"Pfft," Brittany scoffed, rolling her eyes unbelievably. "_You_? Six-pack? Yeah right," she ended, rubbing her back. "You're a stick, Alvin." Not in a million years would he ever bulk up.

Heading over to his car, ignoring Brittany's comment at the moment, Alvin then opened the passenger door. "Get in, Brittany."

"I never said I wanted a ride—" She began.

"Here, if you want I can always prove you wrong and show you my six-pack—" Alvin said, beginning to take his varsity jacket off.

Widening her eyes, Brittany immediately took action and just like that, all the pain in her body disappeared. "No, no, no—I'm getting' in!" She freaked, fast walking towards the car.

Raising his eyebrows, he put his arm in the way of the entrance before she could get in, and gave her a look. "Are you sure, Britt? A lot of girls would kill to see this," he taunted, smirking.

"What girls? Oh, do you mean yourself?" she smiled sweetly, giving herself a ten out of ten for her comeback.

Snickering, Alvin slipped his jacket fully back on. "Ouch—Brittany, do you not consider yourself a girl?"

Letting out a dramatic sigh, she got inside the car after Alvin motioned for her to get in. "Alvin, you've known me for years now, and you still don't know? It's not that I _don't _consider myself a girl, it's just I consider myself more of a lady. That's all," she simply said, while Alvin merely rolled his eyes and shut the passenger door.

She heard him grumble, "Lady—girl? What's the difference?" She sighed.

Feeling a chill run down her spine, she shuddered and looked outside the car windows. The rain slammed down on the car, and the wind howled quietly, rustling everything it ran in to.

Gazing around the car, Brittany turned slightly around and watched while Alvin jogged to the driver's door. Catching a funny scent, drifting to her nose, she dropped her gaze to the back seats and cringed back. Wrinkling her nose, she faced straight. "No wonder it smelled," she muttered lowly.

Suddenly the driver's door opened and Alvin slid in to his seat. Shaking his hair, Brittany flinched back at the sudden splatters of rain droplets. "Alvin!"

"What?" he asked, looking over at her innocently. Seeing her wipe the sprinkled rain in disgust, he grinned evilly. "Oh, you mean this?" he said, shaking his hair once again, but closer to her.

"Yes, that! _Alvin!_" Brittany yelped scooting as far away as her seat would let her. Pushing him back, Alvin chuckled, shaking his head.

Glaring over at him, Brittany caught his sports bag out of the corner of her eye and remembered the stench that came along with it. "Seriously, Alvin? Your sports bag—it reeks! Why do you have it with you?"

"Well, _sorry… _I kinda just came back from football practice, so yeah; of course it's going to be there!" Alvin answered as if it was the most obvious answer ever, which it actually in a way was.

Rolling her eyes for the millionth time that day, Brittany than shot, "Well, don't you have any perfume or some sort of freshener? I think I'm suffocating over here."

Giving Brittany a look, Alvin then lamely said, "Brittany, guys don't use perfume—and I'm sure the smell isn't _that _bad."

"Fine, _cologne, _Mr. I-don't-care-how-my-sports-bag-smells-but-I-care-what-people-say-when-it-comes-to-perfume." Brittany snorted, folding her arms. "It's not even really that big of a difference…" she grumbled. "Cologne's just a manly way to say perfume…and it's also a different smell, where I swear, all the smells are the same…"

Raising his eyebrows, Alvin just stared at her.

Glancing over at him, Brittany too raised her eyebrows in return. "What? It's _TRUE_." She claimed, throwing her hands up.

Scoffing, Alvin grabbed his car keys out of his pocket and put it in the slot near the steering wheel. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Britt." Turning the key, the engine started and hummed a soft purr. Turning the heater on and setting it on low, he then turned the radio on. Pressing the numbered buttons from one to six, he finally made up his mind when he approved of a well-known pop song playing on the radio station. Turning the volume up, he then buckled his seatbelt on.

Seeing Alvin buckling, Brittany too copied him and immediately flipped down the flap on the roof of the car. Adjusting the flap so she could see herself in the mirror on it, she couldn't help but smile seeing her makeup and hair were still in pretty good shape. Thankful the rain didn't turn her appearance into that of a hideous beast, she flipped the flap back up.

Putting the car into drive, Alvin then pressed his foot on the pedal, and checked the road before he turned back onto it. "So," he began, "what exactly _were_ you doing walking? I mean, I know you have cheer practice, but in this weather? I'm not sure if you've noticed, but it's kinda been raining—"

"I know," Brittany sighed, cutting in. "When I started to walk it wasn't raining," she mumbled. "But, Ms. Miller insisted it was a beautiful day and—"

"Wait, Ms. Miller? What does she have to do with this? Brittany, can't you just _drive_?" Alvin asked, keeping a firm concentration on the road, but also paying attention to the cheerleader, who was well-known to always get into competitions with him, yet be his best friend all at the same time. He knew her well—in fact he knew her like the back of his hand, but for her to actually walk when she could drive, he knew she'd choose the more "stylish" way in a heartbeat.

"Right…about that…" Brittany moved in her seat uncomfortably. "I got grounded," she muttered lowly.

"What?" Alvin asked, not hearing her.

"I got grounded," she repeated, a little louder, glad the music was turned up. Maybe he'd mishear her, or give up on hearing what she was saying…

"Wait, what?"

"I got grounded, Alvin." She repeated once again, getting a little annoyed.

"Okay, sorry, but what? I can't hear ya, Britt."

"I got grounded." Okay, maybe the music wasn't too great…

"What?"

"Alvin!" Brittany hollered, clearly annoyed.

Bursting out into laughter, Alvin then stiffened his laughter as best as he could, "Alright, alright, chill—I heard you that last time—you got grounded? Lemme guess, you crashed your car?"

Giving Alvin a death glare, she fired, "_Wrong!_"

"Okay…" Alvin paused, lost in thought. "You—"

"I stayed out too late, okay?" Brittany quickly intervened, leaning her head on the rain glazed passenger window.

"I was just going to guess that," Alvin mumbled under his breath in irritation.

Leaning her head back into the back of the seat, finding the window uncomfortable, the light stench from Alvin's sports bag came drifting back to Brittany's nose. Cringing, she held her breath, trying her best to ignore the aroma and listen to the music. Slowly letting her breath go, she slightly inhaled the air. Twisting her tongue, she sat there in silence. Not having much to say through her voice, she pursed her lips while her face said all that was on her mind.

Closing her eyes, trying her best to endure and quickly think of a plan, her eyes popped open almost as if a light bulb appeared above her head.

Unbuckling her seatbelt, Brittany turned around in her seat, and reached for her cheer bag.

Glancing over at Brittany, Alvin looked back at the road, furrowing his eyebrows together. "Uh, Brittany? Wha…? What are you doing?" He asked in pure confusion. "Isn't that a bit, let's say, dangerous?"

"What? Dangerous?" Brittany snickered, unzipping the side pocket to her cheer bag. "Since when did you ever care about my safety, _Alvin_? Oh, wait, just kidding—I meant Simon, sorry." She exaggerated. Grinning widely when she spotted her target, she quickly snatched it and immediately put it into action.

"_Simon?_" Alvin questioned in disbelief. "Ouch—really, Brittany? I'm _nothing_ like him—and you know it."

"No, Alvin, you got it all wrong," Brittany rejected, spraying her small expensive bottle of perfume around Alvin's sports bag. He was _SO _going to kill her for this… Whatever, at least she wouldn't have to die smelling his sports bag. Plus he should feel privileged she's using her hundred dollar perfume on him! This stuff wasn't cheap! "It's _Simon _who's nothing like you, Alvin." She corrected, taking a quick glance at him.

"Meaning…" Alvin pushed, glancing up at the rearview mirror.

"Meaning, you sometimes _do _take on some Simon-y things. But," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "I guess it's Simon who takes after that part of you, since you are the oldest that is."

Glancing back and forth, up at the rearview mirror and back at the road, Alvin then asked, "Brittany, what on earth are you doing back there?!"

"Uh," Brittany began, biting her bottom lip. "Some, uh, stuff…?" She answered, it ending out more as a question.

"_Brittany_—just tell me what it is—you know I'll find out sooner or later." He concluded.

Thinking it through, knowing he was more likely right, she then began, "Um, well," she edged, debating whether she really should tell him. Lying wouldn't be too bad, right? "Well, you know, I, uh, guess you can say I, uh, am," she bit her bottom lip, and nervously laughed. "Freshening things up a bit?" She finished, spraying one more spray.

"'Freshening?'" Alvin questioned, furrowing his eyebrows. Running her words through his head, he eyed Brittany. Narrowing his eyes, he then slowly asked, "You wouldn't by any chance be referring to my sports bag, now would you?"

Dropping her jaw down to the ground, Brittany quickly stuffed her perfume back in her cheer bag, and zipped it back up. Now she was dead…

"Did I say freshening?" she laughed timidly. "I think that came out wrong…" She then sat back down in her seat properly and kept her gaze away from Alvin's. "I was simply, reorganizing…" She mumbled lowly, hoping he would just drop the subject.

"Lemme get this straight—you were re_organizing_ my sports bag, then?" Alvin asked, raising one eyebrow while keeping his eyes on the wheel.

"Sports bag?" Brittany murmured. "Uh, sure—well, kind of…" She trailed off. "If you consider spraying my perfume on your sports bag to make it smell better is reorganizing," she mumbled too low for Alvin's ear to hear.

Peering over at Brittany suspiciously, Alvin then inhaled deeply, but paused noticing a new smell that roamed in his car. "Brittany," he causally began, "what's that smell?"

"Smell?" Brittany choked out, scooting closer to the car door. Alright, here was her plan: she'd jump out the door when he figured her out. Just kidding, she'd probably scratch and scrape her shimmering silky, soft skin.

"Yeah, it's definitely not my cologne, but—," he paused, glancing over at Brittany. "Almost smells like, perfume—like you…" Flickering his eyes over at Brittany, he gripped lightly onto the driver's wheel, trying to keep his cool. "You wouldn't…"

Laughing nervously, she shrugged her shoulders and looked out the window. "Oh, would you look at that, the rain's gotten worse..."

"Don't even think about changing the subject—you did, didn't you? Britt, seriously, now my bag smells like _girls!_" Alvin freaked. "How could you? Brittany, now how am I supposed to get rid of the smell? The things I would do if I wasn't driving—you are so dead once I get my hands on you!"

"Excuse me?" Brittany shrieked (She couldn't believe herself for being such a baby about him finding out what she did!). "How was I supposed to live through the smell? _Hello_, I was _dying _over here!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "Anyway, you should be _thanking_ me; the smell's now resistible. You actually might get a date now…"

He scoffed. "Yeah, but couldn't you have at least _asked_? Is that just so hard to do?"

"But you would've said no," she shot, scrunching her face in confusion.

"Exactly!" he fired back. "I will _so_ get back at you, Brittany Miller."

After that was said, Brittany opened her mouth to speak back, but answered with silence and quickly clamped her mouth shut. Taking a quick peak over at Alvin's expression, she quickly averted her gaze, seeing that he was too looking at her, yet still keeping eye on the road ahead. He was like a creepy child's doll—staring at you but not really. Biting her bottom lip, curious as to what he was thinking, or in other words, probably planning, for he was more likely thinking of a plan to get back at her, she dropped her gaze down to her lap.

She needed a plan too…

Feeling the car come to a stop, Brittany then realized they were already at the school. Letting out a sigh, she then muttered, relieved, "Thanks for the ride."

Getting out of the car, she froze for a split second, feeling the sudden break between the warm inside of the car, and the chilly drops of water falling down from the sky. Pursing her lips, she then opened the backseat car door, while Alvin too got out and walked around the car to where she was. Shutting the opened door after Brittany got her cheer bag, he let out a sigh, rolling his eyes and asked, "Do you need me to come get you?"

Snorting, Brittany then said, "I think I can handle myself."

"Are you sure? It's really not a problem, Britt." Alvin pushed, knowing she probably didn't have a ride, since she didn't have one to the school, and also knowing she'd be too proud to let him come pick her up—especially since he already drove her there.

"It's fine—I'll call Jeanette or Eleanor and ask them to come get me." Brittany shrugged, readjusting the strap, from her cheer bag, on her shoulder. Seeing Alvin nod his head slowly, she slowly began to walk away. "Bye, Alvin." It's probably best she left before he could think through for another logic that his brain miraculously would come up with.

"Wait—my hat," Alvin said, reaching his hand out.

Widening her eyes, Brittany's hand flew up to her head. She was still wearing _his hat_? "Right," she said, taking it off, surprised to feel it was still there. How'd she ever forget it was there? Tossing the hat, Alvin caught it and put it back where it belonged on his head.

"Well, catch ya later, Britt." Alvin grinned, showing her his infamous crooked smile. Snapping both of his hands and turning them into guns, aiming it at Brittany playfully, he walked back around his car and got inside the driver's door.

Feeling a small smile tug at her lips, she watched while he drove off and out of sight. Letting out a sigh, a chill crept up her spine, reminding her of the rain and coldness the day had to give to her today. Realizing how wet she was beginning to get, she jogged to the front doors of her high school, skipping up each step she had to step on.

As soon as she made it to the front doors of her high school, she immediately opened the doors to get in the shelter of the building. Letting out a sigh, she looked out at the rain and shook her head. Walking through the building, she then caught sight of a clock. Gasping at the time, seeing it read a quarter before four o'clock, she bolted through the hallways. She was supposed to be at the school fifteen minutes ago… Now she was literally going to be dead; her coach definitely wasn't going to be happy with her, and she very well knew it.

Finding her way through the mazelike halls, pushing her legs to go at the speed of lightning, she then burst through a pair of doors leading to the gym room. Dropping her cheer bag, out of breath, she bent down and panted, oddly feeling like a dog, "Here… I'm here…"

"Brittany!" a bunch of feminine voices exclaimed, almost in harmony.

Breathless, she then saluted in a weak manner, "Reporting to duty." Taking deep breaths, trying to catch her breath, she fixed her composure and stood up straight, now lightly panting.

"Brittany," Marina Emerson, also known as the CO-captain of the cheer team and as one of Brittany's closest friends on the team, motioned for her to come over.

"Hey, what's up?" Brittany said, greeting the dirty blonde haired girl.

"Where have you been?!" Marina hissed, big brown eyes glistening with urgency.

"Excuse me?" Brittany asked, not quite taking in the question.

"What's the holdback? What took you forever to get here? Coach Lynn is so mad—not even that, furious! And Brittany, you know how she gets when she's—"

"I know, I got this—" Brittany began but flinched when she heard the one voice she dreaded the most.

"MILLER!" A voice boomed.

Looking up, meeting a pair of flaming ice blue eyes, Brittany smiled tensely and stepped forward. Making her way over to the woman dressed in a track suit, she quickly glanced around the room at all the staring eyes before she spoke. "Hey, Coach Lynn," she responded back. "Uh, how's it goin'?"

Letting out a sigh the coach snapped, "What took you so long?!"

This wasn't as bad as she thought… Shuffling her feet around Brittany then replied, suddenly finding her dirty, wet shoes intriguing. "Transportation problems…?"

"Oh? You had 'transportation problems?' Well, Miller, you know the rules, and guess what? It's your lucky day because you just earned yourself, along with the rest of the squad, to do all of your warm-ups _outside_," Coach Lynn evilly smiled. "FIVE MILES AROUND THE TRACK!" she barked, clapping her hands. "NOW, GIRLS! C'MON! GET A MOVE ON IT! WHAT ARE YOU?! HIPPOPPOTTAMUSES?!"

And just like that, all the girls in the gym let out a moan.

"Ow…" Brittany let out, low enough so no one else could hear. Next time, she would come prepared with earplugs. "Of all the joys in this world…" She sighed. "For once, I think I'd rather be back in Alvin's car sitting next to his smelly sports bag," she grumbled before she straightened herself out. "Alright girls! You heard the coach, let's go!" she yelled, heading towards the doors.

Pushing her way out of the doors, Brittany walked out, and stood in the empty hallways of the school while she waited for the rest of her squad to come out. Glancing inside the gym, she watched while Coach Lynn smiled approvingly and went inside her office. Probably to go get fat off of doughnuts while watching that dumb new TV show she figured while she rolled her eyes in pure annoyance, and turned her gaze away.

Of course Coach Lynn would do this, make the girls run in such weather, and even if Brittany never was late in the first place, the coach would've found a reason to make all the girls run out in the rain, and everybody knew it, too. So, there wasn't really a big deal that she cost her team to run in the pouring rain, because it wasn't really _her _fault. She could almost guarantee that everyone wasn't very fond of Coach Lynn as a fact. To be honest, most found Coach Lynn scary, rude, and mean—even the principal found her horrifying, but that didn't ever make a change. All it did was let Coach Lynn, or what Brittany preferred to call her, The Wicked Grouch of the Dumps, to have more power in the school.

"Brittany?" a small, shy voice called.

Looking over at the owner of the voice, Brittany stared at the dark, brown haired girl recognizing her as Natasha Steinfield, one of the new sophomores to the school, and lifted her eyebrows in response.

"Umm, are you really going to, you know, make us all run, umm, outside?" Natasha quietly asked, twiddling her fingers together uneasily.

Snickering, Brittany rolled her eyes. _Newbies_… "Of course not—girl, what have you been up to this whole year? If you haven't noticed, I never actually _listen_ to what that _grouch_ has to say… As long as I'm cheer captain, _I'm _going to have a say in what we do, and _I'm _going to do what I want with this team to get us to the top. Listening to that coach won't get us anywhere—she doesn't know anything about cheer." She ended, staring at the sophomore.

"Oh," Natasha said in awe.

Turning on her heel, dismissing the conversation, Brittany paused and looked back at the dark brown haired girl and said, "Word of advice, Ms. Steinfield, I suggest you work on that voice of yours. You're a cheerleader—use your _voice_. Open up, express yourself! If you're going to be on _my_ team, you've got to talk louder than that. I barely could hear you when you spoke." With that said She spun around and faced her squad.

"Alright girls," Brittany clapped, getting all the girls attention. "You know the drill: nine laps in the hallways, and one lap outside! Let's go, go, go! I've got a new routine to teach you guys, but obviously I can't teach it to you if we don't have time!" she yelled.

Seeing all the girls nod their heads in response, Brittany let out a sigh and watched while every girl began to pace themselves. Pursing her lips, she glanced at the time, then glanced outside seeing the howling wind push the rain harder down to the ground. Shuddering at the slight chill in the air, she pushed her feet off the ground and broke out into a speed she was used to.

This was going to be a long day.

Shaking her head at the thought, Brittany concentrated on her running and hoped for the day to end quickly. The day was already bad enough, so she figured she might as well at least end it _good._

"Hey, Brittany," Marina called with four other girls by her side. "Are you sure you don't want to come?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

Shaking her head no, Brittany then said dreadfully, "I can't. I'm _grounded_, remember?"

"Alright, well, I'll be sure to tell you about it," Marina lightly smiled, pity written on her face. "See ya later, Brittany." She waved, before heading out the doors of the high school.

Waving, Brittany smiled and watched while the other girls followed Marina out the doors, too, waving goodbye.

Immediately glancing up at the time, Brittany pursed her lips. Marina and the other girls were going out to that party Jordy Eversole was hosting. It was simply just not fair at all on how she had to stay at home and bore herself to death while everyone else got to go out and do what their _precious_, little hearts desired.

Huffing, Brittany quickly redid her hair, and grabbed her cheer bag form off the floor and headed towards the doors. Stopping directly in front of the glass doors, her face turned grim seeing that it was _still _raining. Shouldn't the clouds have run out of water by now? Or, even better, the weather man could say his 'magical' words and say that the weather would be all happy—sunshine and daisies popping out of the ground?

Gritting her teeth, Brittany walked outside in the pouring rain, and quickly glanced around for her ride. After standing out there for a few minutes, Brittany went back inside the school, one simple question lingering in her mind: where exactly _was _her ride?

She knew before she left that Eleanor was at the Seville's residence—probably hanging out with Theodore—so Eleanor wouldn't be picking her up… Jeanette was too, busy, for Simon came over to help her study on her chemistry class—so she probably wouldn't come… Ms. Miller was at a reserved dinner to meet up with her old friends from way back then… And she didn't even ask anyone of them to come pick her up, for she was going to "walk" back home… So that left her with: no ride.

_No ride._

Thinking it through, Brittany's eyes widened in realization: she had no ride, and that meant she would have to walk home…

Dropping her cheer bag, she immediately dropped down to her knees and began rummaging through her bag desperately, repeatedly saying "no" over and over again. She had to have at least taken her cell phone with her…

After she had zipped and unzipped, opened and closed, and thoroughly went through her cheer bag, she froze in remembrance. Her phone wasn't with her…it was resting on her bed…right where she left it. Inhaling deeply through her nose, her shoulders slumped. Why didn't she just ask Marina, or one of the other girls, if she could use their phone? That would be _so _much easier, but no—she had to go off and forget. And of course she's the last one to leave, like _always._

Snatching her cheer bag from off the ground, she briskly stood up and turned on her heel in annoyance, facing the doors. Closing her eyes, she shook her head and stomped outside. Feeling a gush of wind swirl around her body, she clutched on to her light jacket and began heading down the steps, staring down at her shoes. Grumbling at how stupid the whole situation seemed to be, Brittany then glanced up seeing a car parked directly in front of her. Squinting her eyes at the car, she blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. She never saw the car there before… Since when was it there?

Cocking her head to the side, she then began to slowly approach the car trying to see any personage in it. As she edged closer, a hand suddenly gripped firmly on her arm. Jumping at the sudden grasp, Brittany immediately supposed it was some guy, for the owner's hand felt big and fairly strong, and that he going to murder her, or do scary things like they always did in the TV shows. Without taking a second thought, her body took over and she swiftly turned around half expecting a gun pointing at her face and the other half expecting some mask covering the face of the person.

Hand flying on top of the hand gripping on her arm, tingling to pry the hand off—wishing she was some expert in some sort of martial arts—she let out a breath that had been trapped in her throat the moment she felt contact. "Alvin?!" she cried, sliding her hand off of his.

"One and only," he replied, smug smile plastered on his face.

"What are you—are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" She shrieked, leaning on her right foot a little.

"Jeez, Britt—keep your pants on—have you been watching too many of those horror movies?" Alvin joked, taking his grip off of Brittany's arm, so he could fold his arms in amusement.

Gaping, Brittany gave him a look of disbelief. "_NO_," she exclaimed, flailing her arms up. "That's _you _who's seen too many horror movies—and I'm not wearing pants! If you're going to say that, at least get it right!"

"Oh," Alvin scoffed, shaking his head in amusement. "Alright, _mom_, keep your uniform—or skirt—whatever, just keep it on." He corrected himself, rolling his eyes. "Happy now?"

"Uh, no, I'm not—I'm having a horrible day, and it's raining. And code for when I say it's raining, I mean it's messing up my hair, ruining my clothes, and killing me with my mind! And 'happy'?" she snickered, shaking her head like he was crazy. "How can you say _happy? _Satisfied that you actually did what I told you, yeah, but _happy? _No, Alvin, I'm not! What are you thinking in that thick skull of yours? Do I look like I'm skipping in the sunshine like there's no tomorrow? Uh, I don't think so." Brittany stated, folding her arms with a huff.

"Alright, Britt—jeez, calm down." Alvin chuckled, putting his arm around Brittany, leading her to his car. "I hear ya—you don't need to have a spazz attack. Gosh…" He then muttered lowly, "Girls…"

Furrowing her eyebrows together, Brittany glanced at her so called 'friend.' "'Spazz attack?' Alvin, do you even know the definition of a spazz attack?"

Raising his eyebrows, Alvin looked at her. "Brittany, really? I've seen a spazz attack—I live with it on a daily basis. Heck, I even know the meaning better than Simon does. And in fact, Brittany, you're being a _perfect _example right now—do you practice?" He joked, smugly grinning.

Gaping, Brittany punched Alvin hard in the chest playfully yet meaningfully, and shrugged his arms off of her. Stepping in front of him, blocking his path, she jabbed her finger into his chest. "Well, _excuse_ _me,_ Mr. Seville, but this so called 'spazz attack' comes _naturally _for me just like my beauty—but you? I think you try too hard on whatever you've got," she paused waving her hands around him, "goin' on in that mind of yours."

"Do you really think that low of me, Britt?" Alvin asked, looking hurt.

Glaring at him for a split second, she simply said, "Yes."

"Is that code for: I think you're awesome and the best?" He smirked, folding his arms.

"Nope," Brittany countered. "It's code for: Shut your face and take me home!"

Raising his eyebrows at her choice of words, he then repeated, "'Shut your face?'" Snickering at the sound of it, he cocked his head to the side. "Who in this universe says that?"

"_I do_," she fired, indicating to herself for more emphasis. "Now take me home!" she whined, feeling the rain weigh down on her shoulders, making her feel heavy and weak.

"Alright, honey—don't go get your tongue tied in a knot," Alvin chortled, taking his car keys out of his pocket and unlocking the car doors with the press of a button. Opening the passenger door for Brittany to get in, he then joked while she got in, "Do you need me to help you buckle in?"

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Brittany rolled her eyes throwing her cheer bag on the backseats. "Just shut the door already," she grumbled, folding her arms like a little kid.

"Okay," Alvin shrugged, "just trying to be a man of honor." He simply said earning a scoff from the girl in his car while he shut the door.

Watching him while he lightly jogged to get to the driver's side, Brittany impatiently let out a sigh while a cold chill ran down her spine causing her to drop her folded arms and sit on her hands for warmth. Why did it have to be so cold? It should only get cold when it snows…

The driver's door suddenly swung open and in Alvin came; slamming the car door shut right after him, he shoved his keys into the ignition, turning it, bringing his car to life. Adjusting the rearview mirror, he glanced over at Brittany.

"Took you long enough," Brittany muttered under her breath.

Evidently catching on to what she said, Alvin flailed his arms up in disbelief. "Brittany, that only took me, like, three seconds."

"'Three seconds,'" Brittany scoffed. "More like three hours."

Rolling his eyes, Alvin turned the radio on before shifting the car into Drive and pressed on the gas. "Hey, just be grateful that I even bothered to come pick you up, alright?"

"Right," Brittany slowly said, bringing her right hand from below and resting her elbow on the window while she rested her head in the palm of her hand.

Gazing out the rain dripped window, staring at the streets and familiar roads getting engulfed in rain, she let out a puff of air, and watched while it fogged up her view.

He was right. Alvin was actually right. She should be grateful that he even took the time to come get her when no one else even _noticed_ or took the time to care. Even though Alvin could be a total, complete, arrogant, egotistical, self-absorbed, jerk, he wasn't _all _bad...

She examined her left hand, checking the glittering coat of white on her nails. She smiled in admiration. At least her nails looked nice…as opposed to what she may appear at the moment… But what was she talking about? She always looked fabulous—no matter the cause.

"Man, Britt, you're really not that popular today." Alvin started, causing Brittany to roll her eyes. "I mean, you are popular—of course not as famous as me, but—honestly? What's up with this? Couldn't you have gotten a ride by one of your super, attractive cheer friends?"

Breathing deeply through her nose, Brittany then replied, "Yeah—_duh_—of course I could've, but they were all going straight to Jordy's, and if you haven't remembered, I'm _grounded_. G-R-O-U-N—"

"Okay, okay," Alvin cut in. "I get it, you're grounded. Sorry, I forgot."

Grinding her teeth, Brittany shifted her gaze back towards the window, and then snapped her head back in his direction, curiosity written across her face. "Why aren't you at the party?"

"Party?" Alvin asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, party? Why pick _me_ up instead of going out, having a ball? And be honest, Alvin, I know you'd rather go to some stupid party then worry about me—especially when it's one of your stupid friend's party—so tell me. Why?"

"Oh, right, _that _party…" Alvin began, trailing off a bit. "Umm, well, uh—because you're my best friend…?"

Laughing dryly, Brittany's face turned stern. "That's not the real reason."

"W-what are you talking about? Sure it is! I mean, you kind of really are my best friend…"

Eyeing him cautiously, Brittany shifted her gaze away. "Sure, sure… Whatever you say…" She said, still unconvinced

Pursing her lips, Brittany then cocked her head to the side, a question forming in her mind while she ran the past of her day so far in her mind.

Letting out a sigh, Alvin then asked recognizing Brittany's posture. "What now?"

"How did you exactly know I needed a ride?" she questioned, looking up at Alvin.

"How?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "Well, uh, you know, I…" He trailed off, tensing up.

"You…?" Brittany began, now furrowing her eyebrows together seeing his sudden tension.

Twitching his head a little, Alvin continued, "You know, I, uh, just—well, I-I knew because I, well—"

"Just spit it out already!" Brittany cried, getting too intolerant not knowing the answer.

Inhaling deeply, he then let out, "I went over to your house, okay?"

"See? Was that really that—wait," she paused, registering what he just said in her head. Shifting her body so she was facing him, she studied him with precaution. "You went over to my _house_? You were at my house?!"

"Uh, y-yeah," he chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "I did go over to your…uh, house…"

"Alvin," Brittany began slowly, "what did you do?" She asked, narrowing her eyes now. The way he was acting was…strange… He never acted this way unless he had some big secret of some sort, or did something out of hand.

"What did I—Britt, I did nothing! Why do you always assume that I did something wrong?" he complained, looking a little hurt.

"Oh, I don't know—let me think about it—oh, wait, that's right!" she beamed. "Because more than half of the time it always _is_ because you did something!" she exclaimed, giving him a look.

"Yeah, but still..." He mumbled, pursing his lips.

Feeling a small pang of remorse hit at her heart, she immediately covered it up by quickly saying, "You know what—we're getting off topic," she stated, keeping her stern appearance up. "Why'd you go to my house?"

Straightening his composure, Alvin shrugged, "I don't know, I went over there to check on you."

"You went to my house to _check_ on _me_?" Brittany laughed, finding this a joke. "Yeah, sure you did." She simply said with the roll of her eyes.

"Well, when I, uh, you know, went over there, I noticed that you weren't back yet—well, I mean, I didn't see any sign that you came home. So I asked Simon and Jeanette, who by the way are still studying as I speak—"

"They are?!" Brittany cut in, wide ice blue eyes. "I think my brain would just fry to death!"

"Yeah, tell me about it!" Alvin agreed, his agitation easing a bit.

Inhaling deeply, she exhaled out, "Wow… What brainiacs—anyway, you were saying?"

Clenching his teeth, he then sighed, "Right… I asked Simon and Jeanette if you were home, or if anyone picked you up, and Jeanette freaked and said no one has—so pretty much I said I'd take care of it." He ended quickly, flashing an uneasy grin.

Slowly nodding her head, Brittany eyed him suspiciously. Something was up with him, and whether he liked it or not, she was going to find out.

The car soon came to a halt. Opening her mouth to speak, Alvin beat her to the chase. "Well, we're here." He grinned, looking over at her.

Peering out the window, a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. Finally, she was home…well, sort of. Until she gets inside the house, she'll be home, but at the moment, she was merely a little over half way home.

Unbuckling himself, Alvin opened his door. "Let's get this show on the roll."

Rolling her eyes at his choice of words, Brittany followed his lead, and unbuckled herself, too opening her door and stepping out. Shivering at the slight chill in the air, she slammed her door shut, and folded her arms for warmth. Hearing one of the car doors open, she glanced to the noise and watched while Alvin got her cheer bag out of his car. There was still something up with him…

Shaking her head, pushing the thought to the back of her mind, she slowly stepped towards Alvin while he shut the backseat car door to his glossy red car.

"How much do you wanna bet that Simon and Jeanette are still hitting it off with studying?" Alvin asked, handing Brittany her cheer bag, to which she took.

"Umm," she dragged out, adjusting the strap to her bag on her shoulder. "I think," she began, starting to walk up the pathway to her home. "You know what, I am positive they are still going in overdrive, so, the bet's off 'cause I know you're thinking the same."

Snickering, walking beside Brittany, Alvin nodded his head. "Yup, that's probably exactly what they're doing. This is why I am everything Simon _isn't_."

"True, but this is also why Simon isn't everything _you _are, Alvin. Let's face it, you aren't very smart—all you've got are your charms and looks and not to mention attititude—"

"And that's all I need. Seriously, who cares about math, and science, and all those other dumb subjects. Who in this world is actually going to _use_ this stuff?" Alvin complained, stopping in his tracks at the bottom of the porch steps that led to the front door.

Shaking her head, Brittany headed up the steps and looked to Alvin as if the answer was so obvious. "_You_ are, dummy—you know some of these things we actually kinda need." She stated, stopping in her steps when she was at the top, and pivoting on her foot so she could face him properly. Putting her hand on her hip, she locked her gaze with his and waited for his reply.

"Well, yeah, I know that—I'm just talking about the _other_ things—which I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

Huffing out a puff of air, Brittany couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I guess," she confessed. She couldn't lie, she always questioned what the point in math and science was every time she had to sit and wait until the lesson was over.

Scratching the back of his neck, Alvin nervously stared down to the sopping ground, now suddenly in an urge to leave. "I-I gotta go, so, see you tomorrow, or something?" He questioned, beginning to walk backwards, towards his car.

"Oh, right, of course." Brittany spoke, still feeling a little off. "Well, bye, Alvin." She waved. "Oh, and thanks for, you know, thanks for the—"

"I got your back, Britt." Alvin waved, f lashing her his cocky grin. Then again, maybe nothing was off or wrong with him.

Letting out a sigh, rolling her eyes, Brittany turned on her heel, walked to her front door, and opened it. Walking inside, a burst of warmth engulfed her body, and her cheeks heated up. Closing the door with her back, she leaned against the door and let her cheer bag slip off her shoulder in relaxation.

"Brittany, is that you?" a small, timid voice asked, echoing from the kitchen.

"Yeah, Jeanette, it's me." Brittany responded, recognizing the voice to be her bespectacled, little sister.

"There's pizza on the counter…if you want some, that is…" Jeanette called, her voice edging in insecurity.

"I'm fine—I'm actually not that hungry—just tired. I think I'm going to go ahead and get to bed." Brittany replied, balancing on one foot while she pulled her mucky shoe off. Switching foots, she yanked her other shoe off of her foot, and trudged up the steps, heaving her cheer bag back up on her shoulder.

"Well, if you ever get hungry, just come on down—there's plenty of food…"

Letting out a sigh, Brittany picked up her pace while going up the stairs, wanting to just get the night over with. "Will do," she called, "oh, and hi, Simon."

"Hey, Brittany," Simon greeted back. She rolled her eyes, so he was still there. Just as she guessed.

Getting to the top of the stairs, she then walked straight to her room, not bothering to mess with the lights, and threw her cheer bag carelessly in her closet, the darkness swallowing it up. Quickly rummaging through her drawers of clothing, she randomly grabbed a white, loose shirt and a pair of light pink shorts. Shrugging her shoulders, deciding that the attire would look fine, she headed out of her room and into the bathroom that was across the hall.

Locking the door shut, she got down to business and began getting ready for bed. Once she got the basics over and done with—brushing and flossing her teeth—she then took a nice long, relaxing shower. When she felt it was about time to get out of the shower, she reluctantly got out, and dried herself, pulling on her new change of clothes.

Unlocking the doors to the bathroom, feeling clean and fresh, Brittany strolled on over to her room. Walking in her room, she instinctively shut the door behind her, and ran over to her bed, jumping on top of it, and snatched her phone that rested only a few inches away from where she landed. Checking her inbox, to see if she had any messages, she let out a sigh and set her phone on the small nightstand next door to the right of her bed. She'd deal with those messages tomorrow. Resting her head down on the soft blanket that covered her bed, she looked at the window, and stared longingly, as the rain continued to pound down on the window. The street lamp from outside gleamed on through the window, showing the dark shadows of the rustling branches outside.

Snuggling into her blankets, Brittany closed her eyes, and stretched her arms up to her pillow. Feeling a something lightly tickle the edge of her hand, she looked up curiously to see what it was.

Jumping at the sight, Brittany widened her eyes, literally meeting face to face with a giant spider about the size of her hand, yet bigger. Letting out a yelp, pulling her hands towards her chest, she screamed and quickly backed away, falling off her bed and barged out the door. "Jeanette! Jeanette!" she screamed running to the stairs.

"What—what's wrong Brittany?!" Jeanette called in a panicked voice, already at the bottom of the stairs—obviously having heard Brittany's scream of horror, and probably came by to check on her.

"Are you okay, Brittany?" Simon, who was standing right next to the bespectacled girl, asked, adjusting his black framed glasses, studying her.

"Do I look okay?" Brittany gasped. "NO! There's—there's a spider on my bed! A _giant, hairy, googly-eyed, spider, on my BED!_" she freaked, gripping onto the stair rail.

"An arachnid?" Jeanette rhetorically asked.

"'Giant?'" Simon asked, furrowing his brows together. "Exactly how big?"

"This big," Brittany exclaimed, emphasizing it with her hands.

"What? Are you sure?" Jeanette questioned, now matching Simon's expression.

"That's impossible, considering where we live." Simon spoke, taking the size Brittany presented into though. "I mean, there are spiders that can be that big here in California, but it'd have to be something like the Goliath Tarantula, or something—and I'm pretty sure those kinds of spiders don't live around in our area." He concluded as-matter-of-factly.

Looking at Simon weirdly as if he was speaking a foreign language, Brittany shook her head. "Just come see!" she pleaded.

Watching while the two exchanged glances, Brittany loosened up just a tiny bit, seeing Jeanette heading up the stairs, directly followed by Simon.

Getting paranoid, feeling like there were spiders crawling all over her body, Brittany shuddered, while she lead the bespectacled boy and girl to her room. Opening her door wide, making room for both Jeanette and Simon to stand in the doorway, she stepped back, slightly hiding behind Jeanette.

Flicking on the lights, Simon walked slowly towards Brittany's bed, giving a long, hard stare at the hairy creature lying on Brittany's pillow.

Slightly peeking behind Jeanette's back, stepping forward whenever she did, Brittany watched, keeping her hands close to her chest, while Simon edged closer and closer.

"Guys," Simon began, building the intensity in the room. "It's fake—it's just a toy."

"Oh," Jeanette sighed in relief.

"Wait—_what?_" Brittany shrieked in pure disbelief. This did not just happen to her. She freaked out at over a toy? "You're kidding…" She exhaled, stepping out of hiding. Walking towards the smart boy, she put her hands on her hips. "What's a toy doing on my bed—not to mention a _spider _toy? That's definitely _NOT _mine." She stated, looking at the hairy toy, now in Simon's hand, in pure disgust.

Fixing her gaze over on her bed, Brittany cocked her head to the side, and squinted her eyes, seeing a folded piece of paper on her pillow.

"Who would do such a thing?" Brittany heard Jeanette ask, while she climbed on her bed and snatched the folded paper.

Glancing over her shoulder while Simon and Jeanette began chatting away, Brittany looked back down at the paper and unfolded it. Reading the words that were written on the paper, she furrowed her eyes in confusion.

Look outside.

Slowly lifting her head, Brittany stared at her window. Sliding off her bed, she slowly approached her window and peered outside. Gazing around the neighborhood, her ice blue eyes halted on a red car that was parked in front of her house...still... Squinting her eyes, she soon recognized a figure, standing next to the glossy red car, wearing a too familiar red hat, and he seemed to be…laughing… Laughing really hard, in fact…

Going big-eyed, Brittany gritted her teeth. "_Alvin!"_ she seethed, crumpling the paper in her hand.

"Sorry, um, did you say something, Brittany?" Jeanette edged.

"It was, Alvin!" Brittany spat, as if it were acid to her tongue.

"Alvin…" Simon slowly began, lost in thought. Snapping his fingers, he then exclaimed, "So that's why he really came over!"

Staring at Simon like he was a lunatic, Brittany then stepped towards the bespectacled boy and said, "Excuse me?"

"Well, Alvin came over earlier today in a bit of a rush, and he went upstairs wondering if you were home yet." Simon explained.

"That's right—he did come over!" Jeanette exclaimed.

Taking in what had just been said, Brittany widened her eyes, mouth gaping, now in realization. Rushing out of her room, ignoring the confused looks she was given, she ran down the stairs, and swung the front door open and stopped outside on the porch. Frantically gazing around, seeing no sight of Alvin, she shook her head. This was why Alvin was acting so weird! He was luring her right into his trap, and she fell for it. How much more stupid could this day get?

Flailing her arms up in the air, Brittany dropped her gazed down to her feet, but froze, catching a red rose on top of another folded piece of paper. Pursing her lips, she bent down, and grabbed the flower and paper off the ground rolling her eyes in annoyance. "What now?" she grumbled under her breath.

Looking at the delicate, crimson red rose, she opened the folded paper.

Look, I know I gave you a "scare"

And it probably raised your hairs,

But I'm simply getting even.

Lately I've had trouble sleepin'

Trying to come up with these stupid rhymes,

And you should know it's taken a lot of my time.

So please don't put my work to waste,

And please don't decide with haste.

Writing love poems aren't my style,

And maybe it's not even worth the mile,

But I've got one question and it's not to tease,

Will you go to homecoming with me?

Blinking, Brittany just stared at the note. Either she can't read, or she's hallucinating because Alvin would never ask someone like _her_ to go to a dance with him, especially when that dance is _homecoming_, right?

True, Brittany and Alvin, along with their younger siblings, have been practically BFFs since grade school, but honestly, love would never come between the two…would it? This was their last year in high school. They've all been waiting for this moment when they could finally claim themselves as seniors. They've lasted this long as being either friends or enemies, and throughout the whole year in high school, with all the stupid rumors that have never actually been accurate and never will, they've never considered each other more than just a _friend_.

People would always joke, or say things about Alvin and Brittany being a "thing" but it never occurred to Brittany that it'd actually become reality. It was practically a really terrible joke saying that he, Alvin, and she, Brittany, would actually come down with _love. _Brittany always thought that, and never took a second glance at it. Strangely enough, though, this year, she's been hearing more whispers—more rumors from the crowd about her and Alvin…

Quickly scanning over the note once more, Brittany scoffed in disbelief. "Like asking me to _homecoming _will make me forgive him." Getting ready to ripe the note, she caught sight of more writing written on the very bottom.

P.S. Dare rip this paper, it's going to be your death wish! I took time, writing this! Feel special! This took me longer than you think!

Once again, getting ready to rip the note, she paused while a small grin tugged at the corner of her lips.

Thinking things through, a smirk appeared on her face now.

She was _so _going to tease him for writing in rhymes.

Turning on her heel, she headed back inside, her mood suddenly all…happy… Wait, she was happy. Why was she happy? Her day was horrible; it couldn't be because of the note, now was it? Because if so, that would be just beyond dumb. The note was just a note. That's it. Sure, Alvin wrote it, but how would that make her all giddy? Alvin was just an arrogant jerk, yet her best friend, so nothing much there.

After all, what could a silly note do to make her happy? It's not like she just got proposed to.

Glancing down at the rose and note, she couldn't help but wear a full-on smile.

Okay, maybe her day wasn't _that _bad…now… Something about getting asked to the dance by _him_, Alvin Seville, just made her heart feel something more than what she normally felt for other boys. It was weird. She's felt this before, and it was really strange to how the last time she felt it was when Alvin asked his first love to go out with him, and that was like, two years ago.

Feeling a little sick to her stomach at the thought of ever having feelings stronger than just liking him as a friend, she shrugged it off her shoulders, keeping what her heart wanted to let out, bottled up.

Alvin probably only asked her to get under her skin, that's all.

But it was kind of a relief to her. She finally got asked to homecoming! She was beginning to worry (have a total meltdown) that she wouldn't get asked this last year of school! She usually got asked around this time—or earlier—but since no one had asked her, she wasn't sure of what to think.

But again—of all the boys—Alvin Seville? It was hardly like him to ask her.

Although, lately things have been changing—in fact, they've been changing _a lot._ Recently he's always been on her mind, and she has _tried_ to push him out, but it seemed to her that everything she did always led her back to him. She thought she had everything under control, but now, she's having second thoughts, and she never has to think twice.

Only one question remained on her mind now. And it wasn't the usual question she usually had after getting asked to homecoming. It wasn't "What prom dress should I get?" or "How do I reply back?" No, it was nothing close to her usual inner questions. It was a much deeper question.

How much did she _really_ have control of her heart?

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_**Finish Line**_

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**Haha, if you made it past the Finish Line, you are amazing because I understand that reading all of those words can be a drag sometimes depending on how much you're actually enjoying what you're reading.**

**Well, this is the end for On a Rainy Day (should've done one for snow because it's actually doing that now!), and I hope you enjoyed reading all three! ;D**

**Review and tell me what you think!**

**THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR READING THIS!**


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